Phantom Pt 1
by WiNdGoDdEsS688
Summary: Nell's new memories bring back some bittersweet feelings for a certain Espada, but can anything be salvaged? Nell x Grimmjaw UNOFFICIAL HIATUS IS OVER BEE-YATCHES! CH.9 IS UP!
1. Sonido En El Espacio

Wtf, well this is a random pairing. Anticipating all the Ichigo/Nell fanfics that are probably going to be popping up soon after the latest manga chapter, I dedicate this to another pairing…don't ask…even I don't know the answer…

Disclaimer: hahaha, me own Bleach? Well yes I do own some bleach, but that's the lowercase kind and sadly it doesn't count.

(Blame grammar/spelling errors to my stupidity and lack of sleep/editing as usual)

See Jolina! I _did_ make you a Nell fanfic before school started!!

* * *

Nell stood silently above the cold body of Grimmjaw. Orihime was trying to heal Ichigo as best she could, but of course, his wounds weren't easy to heal and Orihime only had so much power.

Nell didn't dare open her mouth to ask for help. She knew crying would achieve nothing. In her current state, it would look just pathetic to see a grown woman weep as if it would magically make things better.

She bit her lip, trying not to let a single tear or cry escape, but a little whimper of sadness slipped through her lips and into the ears of the one she cared for.

"Baka," he muttered, his eyes still closed. "What're you worrying about me for?"

Nell gasped in shock as she fell to her knees. She hugged herself, for fear of losing her composure and just hugging Grimmjaw. But she was able to control her emotions. "You...you're not dead," she finally said, immediately realizing how silly her obvious statement was as soon as it left her lips.

Slowly, almost as if she was afraid it would be bitten off, Nell lifted her hand and let the back of her palm gently rest against Grimmjaw's forehead. Immediately, his eyes fluttered open.

Nell let out another squeak of surprise, one that did not go unnoticed by Grimmjaw. "Why the hell are you still here?" he snarled. "Go leave with your new friends, I'm not gonna last much longer in this state."

"No!" Nell yelled out, so loud that both Ichigo and Orihime turned to stare. "I'm not leaving you again!" Her tone was still childish, but her voice was deeper, demanding more authority. Grimmjaw looked at Nell, then slowly and painfully, lifted himself up to a sitting position onto the ground.

"Let me help you," Nell quickly said, but her helping hands were slapped away. "I don't need your help woman," he said and a sliver of what was left of his defiance shone through his eyes.

"Oy, Ichigo," Grimmjaw started. "You'd better heal yourself somewhere else. Ulquiorra will be back soon."

"Why the hell are you so worried about me now?" Ichigo replied, but he already had his suspicions.

"Cuz if you leave, your little girlfriend over here," Grimmjaw motioned towards Nell, "will leave with you. And I can dissolve into nothing without her crying in the background."

"Sounds like a selfish plan to me," Orihime interjected.

"Sounds like something he'd say," Ichigo sighed. "But he's right. We can't stay here. We need to find Rukia and Chad, I haven't been able to sense their reiatsu for awhile now. And we don't even know how Renji and Ishida are holding up."

Orihime thoughtfully reflected, unsure of how to respond. She looked at Nell, and though she had barely met the girl, she knew that leaving Grimmjaw would tear the ex-Espada apart. She didn't know what had happened in Nell's past, but it was obvious as to what had to happen in the present.

"We'll leave," she said with determination.

"Let's get this straight Grimmjaw. We're leaving for our own good, not 'cause you asked us to," Ichigo added defiantly.

Grimmjaw hmpfed as Nell squeezed her eyes shut and hugged herself. She shook her head, refusing to acknowledge the truth and her tears were about to finally overflow but...

"But we're bringing you with us."

"WHAT THE F-?" (This came from the men.)

A fist belonging to an orange haired girl suddenly connected with the cranium of a blue haired arrancar. This stopped all deliberation both from Grimmjaw as well as Ichigo. The former was knocked out while the latter was left speechless.

"Are you strong enough to carry him?" Orihime asked Nell. Nell enthusiastically bobbed her head up and down. She was numb with shock and couldn't believe her luck.

"We'll decide what to do with him after we find the others," Orihime told Ichigo. The strawberry had no other plan to counter with, so he agreed.

Ichigo stretched and tried to find any traces of reiatsu from the others. Finding one that was very weak he set out with the others in tow. He took a quick look behind him and couldn't help but smile. There was Orihime, looking happier than she had been in awhile, with Nell not too far behind. Nell had Grimmjaw tossed over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

"You'd better appreciate her," Ichigo muttered under his breath as he turned around and focused on the reiatsu thread.

Grimmjaw was heavy, but Nell didn't notice. She was so grateful that Ichigo and Orihime understood, and they didn't even know the full story. She held back tears of joy, wanting to be strong like the others and didn't allow them to be shed.

_Thank you_

* * *

Reviews are appreciated, but not expected.

Oh and the title comes from a Justice song; they also do D.A.N.C.E. if it sounds familiar to you…


	2. Like Broken Glass

Holy shiznickers, just read the latest chapter...woot woot, go Nell!!

Thank you to everyone who reviewed! And the rating went up due to the colorful language of certain espadas.

Disclaimer: Alas, if Bleach were mine, I would make it so that Orihime did more than just yell: Kurosaki-kuuuuun! (I still love her though!)

Note: I'm going by wikipedia as to how to spell Nnoitra's name...

* * *

Nell and Orihime rested while Ichigo went on his own to find the person whose reiatsu thread they had been following.

Nell didn't say anything as she gently laid Grimmjaw on the ground. She put him down so carefully Orihime thought he was made of fragile porcelin, instead of being an espada, albeit greatly injured.

The two girls said nothing for awhile, but then Orihime spoke. "Do you know what you want to do?"

It was a simple question, but Nell had no simple answer. She fiddled with her sword, then seemed to get annoyed at it, and laid it next to Grimmjaw.

"I want to start off new...but I don't know if he wants to as well. He..." Nell began twirling her hair, a sign of her nervousness. "I...I never really told him how I felt...but I'm sure it was so obvious...to everyone..." Her eyes darkened as she remembered what Nnoitra had done.

"Was that why..." Orihime trailed off, not exactly sure how to discuss Nell's "banishment."

"I'm sure it pissed them all off," Nell said offhandedly. "It was the straw that broke the camel's back, because I knew a lot of the espada couldn't stand my personality already."

"Got that right, bitch" a voice drawled, alarmingly near the two girls.

Orihime and Nell jumped up and turned to stare at the 5th espada.

"That shinigami sure was stupid leaving you two here all by your lonesome." Nnoitra did a quick sonido to place himself right behind Nell. He swung his staff at Orihime, making sure she was a good distance away from them.

"And you even brought your boyfriend," he coldly laughed, quickly glancing at Grimmjaw. "You know woman, when you pull crap like that it makes me want to shove your skull in again."

And with that he brought down his staff, seemingly faster than Nell could act.

But he wasn't fast enough; Nell moved out of the way and flung his staff away.

Nnoitra sighed while grabbing her arms from behind so she was unable to hit him. "Like that will do you any good Neliel without your sword to finish me. Geez, don't tell me love has made you soft." He cackled again as Nell tried to wrestle out off his grasp.

"Soooo now..." Nnoitra was happily taking his time. "What should I do to you, Neliel Tu Oderschvank, that will make you think twice before showing up in Las Noches in that form? Should I kill everyone here, or should I...no, that would be too much trouble. All I have to do is report back to Aizen-sama and you'll be silenced forever." His eyes fell on the still unconscious Grimmjaw. "Or maybe..." He leaned in close toward Nell. "Maybe," he whispered into her ear. "I could steal that kiss you've been saving for a certain someone special?"

Nell's eyes widened and she blushed furiously. "You wouldn't," she spat out. "You're not that pathetic Nnoitra. You'd accomplish more by just killing us all."

Nnoitra shook his head and tsked. "I already said Neliel that killing you all was too much work. And you mistake me." Nnoitra gripped Nell harder. "I don't want you dead yet. I want you to feel the pain that comes from loving him."

Nell had no chance to scream out in frustration, because before she knew it, the 5th espada's lips were locked with hers.

There was a moment of shocked silence, Orihime didn't really think he'd do something that stupid, but apparently...looks were deceiving.

Nell did her best to push him away, but he was gripping her too hard.

Unbeknownst to anyone, Grimmjaw stirred and slowly opened his eyes. He was lying on his side, and when he focused his eyes in front of him, he could have sworn he saw Nnoitra kissing Nell. _Damn, that girl's hit really did mess up my head...wait...what the f-ing hell?!_

And for some unknown reason, the next immediate thought that ran through his mind was: _That bastard better not be using that tongue of his...WHERE THE F-ING HELL DID THAT THOUGHT COME FROM?! _

Perhaps since the 5th and former 3rd espadas were preoccupied and Grimmjaw was having mental trauma issues, no one noticed the orange and white blur that struck Nnoitra and caused him to skid along the ground for a good amount of distance. After the dust settled, everyone could see a very pissed off Orihime.

"H-how the hell are you that strong woman?" Nnoitra snarled as he tried to lift himself up from the ground.

"What?" Orihime calmly replied. "Did you think the only thing I was good for was calling out for Kurosaki-kun?" She turned towards a shocked Nell. "Shall we do the honors?"

Nell's shocked expression gave way to an evil grin that spread from ear to ear as she collected her reiatsu. "Yes, I think we shall Orihime-chan."

Grimmjaw's jaw (A/N- haha) nearly fell to the floor as an explosion of a cero and tsubaki combined hit Nnoitra directly. Really, Nnoitra never stood a chance.

When the dust settled and the ground stopped shaking, there wasn't a sign of the 5th espada to be seen anywhere.

"Good riddance!" Nell yelled out and struck out a triumphant pose that looked eerily similar to the one she made as a toddler with her brothers.

Grimmjaw blinked once...then twice...his mouth frozen into a perfect "O".

Nell hi-fived Orihime and they turned to look at Grimmjaw. "You've left him speechless Nell-chan, that's a good start!" Orihime giggled and patted Nell on the shoulder.

Nell smiled and then blushed slightly. "Eto...Grimmjaw...did you happen to see..._all_ of that?"

Grimmjaw's mouth finally closed and he nodded his head.

Nell blushed furiously. "It wasn't-"  
"You don't need to explain," Grimmjaw quickly interrupted, wanting to avoid an emotional outburst from the former espada.

"Whew," Nell let out a sigh of relief. She shook her head, as if trying to shake out all the bad thoughts in her mind. She looked at Orihime, and after being given a helpful nod, she began.

"Grimmjaw...I once heard someone say that relationships are like glass. Sometimes they're better left broken than hurting yourself trying to put them back together again."

She looked off into the distance of Las Noches for awhile before continuing. "I...I don't think we're like broken glass. So..."

But Nell lost her nerve and laughed to break up the serious atmosphere. "Ah, I don't know what I'm saying," she smiled and closed her eyes.

"Alright."

The word came so abruptly, that Nell opened her eyes. She stared at Grimmjaw, who had a weary look in his eyes, but a faint smile played upon his lips. "Do what you want. I'm not stopping you."

Grimmjaw knew it would eventually come to this. After his fight with Ichigo, his arrogance as well as a few others things were becoming diminished. Reality was setting in.

"I'm not promising you anything big; I'll let you know that right now. I'm just..." Now it was Grimmjaw's turn to trail off and look into the distance.

"Geez, you two are impossible," Orihime said and laughed out loud at the scene unfolding before her. She went up to Nell and gave her a hug, and then went to Grimmjaw and patted him lightly on the back. She then began to heal his most serious injuries.

Silence enveloped the three.

"Weeeell," Nell said after a few moments, "I'm glad you saw everything so I wouldn't have to explain it later." She then made a face and gagged.

"Nell-chan!" Orihime cried out, but then realized that it was nothing serious.

"Ick! I've still got stupid Nnoitra's taste in my mouth." Nell stuck out her tongue and tried to clean it.

There was a brief moment of silence between Nell's statement and Grimmjaw's reaction.

"For the love of the Hougyoku, don't tell me that!" Grimmjaw yelled. Nell looked at him, and seeing his reaction, played along.

"Yeeep, that tongue of his sure was long! I mean it was like-"

"Too much motherf-ing information woman!!"

"But the worst part of it was-"

"THERE'S _MORE?!_"

If anyone had passed by a certain part of Las Noches, they would have seen a blushing and yelling blue haired espada, an orange haired girl giggling hysterically while trying to heal said pissed off blue haired espada, and a green haired girl laughing and hugging the very pissed off espada.

Basically, it wouldn't have been your typical scene in Las Noches.

But of course, anytime Nell is involved, nothing is normal, is it?

* * *

Wow...I wrote again...after only a few days...wtf?

I got inspired by watching Nell kick Espada ass in the latest manga chapter, so this is how the chapter came to be.

Let me know what you think!


	3. Chocolate Es Muy Importante

**"No deja tu chocolate aqui, por favor."**

Thanks for waiting for my update! Um, I started school yesterday, so updates will be sporadic from now on sorry!

Bleh...I'm so picky about my fanfics, I always want to make sure they have no plot knots. Yes, knots, not holes. Knots are more annoying to me because they seem safe to your story at first, but then as you keep writing they can wreck you!

Grimmjaw: Just call 'em holes.

Me: NO! They're called knots! Plot knots! And besides, it sounds cooler. Plot knots!

GJ:...

Me: PLOT KNOTS!

GJ: -glares-

Me: PLO-

GJ: NO!

Me:...

GJ: -glare-

Me:...

GJ: -glare-

Me:...

GJ: -glare, and then turns around-

Me: ...-jumps on his back- PLOT KNOTS!!

Disclaimer: Meh..you know the drill, it's like mad libs. I do not own _[insert anime name_ because if I did, I would be _[insert cool action_ instead of being _[insert lame action_. So for me, I do own _Bleach _because if I did, I would be _kicking ass _instead of being _a college student_.

* * *

"Nell...?" 

"Yes Grimmjaw?."

"What the fuck are you doing?"

"Healing you."

"Oh, is that all...cuz y'know, the last time I checked, healing didn't involve YOUR DROOL ALL OVER ME!!"

"Hey, don't mess with my drool! The drool is awesome. You just need to calm down and besides, you don't freak out when Orihime's glowy thingy is all around you and THAT heals you...besides...Don Paneeni said it was barf!"

"I'm not even gonna go there...besides, lil' missy's glowy th-...lil missy's _power_ is..is..."

"Pretty looking?"

"I'm not calling it some pansy shit like that..."

"Well than what?"

"Its...er...it's speical!"

"What do you mean, like _she's _special??!!"

"I'm special?"

"Yes, yes you are. But not as special as this brat."

Orihime was off healing Rukia after Ichigo returned. The weak reiatsu thread was apparently hers, and the fact that she was still alive after defeating the novena espada was quite a feat. Ichigo of course was worried senseless but tried to hide it. So it was up to Nell to try and heal Grimmjaw as best she could. "Try" being the opportune word, seeing as how Ichigo pretty much beat the crap out of him and Nnoitra nearly cut him in half.

Orihime had glanced at the pair when she heard her name, but she seemed forgotten as Grimmjaw continued ranting. It didn't matter, special to Nell could mean many things, so Orihime left it alone. As for Ichigo, if he hadn't been so worried about Rukia he might have started yelling at Grimmjaw to shut up, but he didn't. You gotta choose your battles to save energy, y'know?

Adding to Ichigo's anxiety was the fact that no other arrancar had come after them since Nnoitra's defeat. At best it was merely a false sense of security, but Ichigo knew that Aizen would be concocting a plan to make sure he got back Orihime before she tried to escape. Speaking of escape...

"Um...how are we getting back again?" Ichigo asked to no one in particular.

"Baka," Rukia murmured so quietly that only Orihime heard her.

Ichigo should have kept his mouth shut because Grimmjaw looked as if he'd been told the funniest joke ever.

"Hahaha, the dickhead doesn't even know how he's gonna escape? You mean you really didn't think it through when you came after lil missy?" And thus for the next few minutes he was literally rolling on the floor and laughing. Well...laughing in between hacking out blood because he was opening some of his wounds.

Nell proceded to yell at him because he was undoing her work, when suddenly a voice spoke.

"Garganta, Urahara called it, didn't he?"

The reiatsu obviously belonged to a Quincy, so no one freaked out when they turned and saw Ishida. However no one expected Renji to be with him. Slung across Renji's shoulder was a very beat up looking Chad. And finally of course...

"Neeeellllllll-saaaaamaaaaaa!!"

Dondo Chakker and Pesshe were running towards them right behind Ishida and Renji. The sand was flying in all directions as they raced towards her. However upon reaching Nell they stopped (the others had been wondering if they would just run into her).

"We followed the strong reiatsu threads," Ishida explained, "and then we-WHO THE HELL IS _SHE_??!!"

Renji wore a similar expression of shock as the Quincy and Shinigami gawked at Nell.

"Oh her?" Ichigo said casually. "That's Nell, didn't you hear those two blockheads (he motioned to Dondo Chakker and Pesshe) when they came running?"

"Y-you m-mean, s-s-she's NELL?! But when did she, er, get all...er-" Ishida was at a loss for words.

"Big?" Renji finished for Ishida.

"Oh, yeah, about that," Ichigo laughed and proceeded to tell them how Nell was transformed.

Ishida pushed his glasses back up because they had fallen down upon seeing Nell's figure. However, once he could see properly, he couldn't help but stare at Nell.

Meanwhile Rukia was able to sit up and told Orihime to try and heal Chad now. Both had life-threatening injuries which needed immediate attention, but for now both would have to not be healed fully in order to save Orihime's stamina.

As Ichigo finished speaking Renji turned toward Nell, who was still hovering over Grimmjaw. "But can we trust a former Espada, and one so high ranking?" he asked, eyeing the large 3 tatooed on her back.

"She saved us from that bastard Nnoitra, how could you still doubt her? Besides, she's still the Nell you knew. She's only changed on the outside," Ichigo angrily replied.

"Lady Nell would never forget her true friends," Pesshe spoke up, addressing Ishida and Renji. "She's always been loyal to her friends."

Dondo Chakker nodded emphatically.

"We can discuss the details after we get outta this place," Ichigo said to the others. "We're just sitting ducks here, we need to get out of the palace and then-"

"We?" Renji interrupted. "You mean we're taking all of them with us?!"

"They're already traitors to Aizen, they'll just be killed if we leave them here," Ichigo impatiently replied.

"Okay, lemme be more specific," Renji said. "We're taking _him_ with us?" he increduously asked, jerking his thumb over toward Grimmjaw.

Ichigo hesitated too long before answering. "Kurosaki," Ishida said firmly, "I may not always agree with your opinion, but this time I think I have to say no. Simply because Nell has an attachment-"

"It's not attachment!" Nell cried out. "It's more than that, its-"

"If what Kurosaki says is correct, you barely got back your memories." Ishida calmly said. "For all we know, you might not have _all_ of them back. What if there's something about Grimmjaw that you don't know?"

Nell hesitated and then blushed. "I just know that back then..it wasn't mutual...but that was then!" Nell gave everyone a pleading look. "Please, he promised that he'd try. Please, for me, may we bring him back to your world? I'll take care of him, I'll make sure he doesn't-"

"Don't do that," Grimmjaw spoke. "Don't take responsability for my attitude." He lifted himself up from the ground. "Look, I know you Shinigami- and Quincy," he added quickly after Ishida glared at him, "hate the crap outta me." He sighed. "Honestly,the feeling's mutual. I still hate the crap outta you too. But.." He glanced at Nell. "But I promised this brat here that I'd give her a chance, and I can't do that in Hueco Mundo where my head probably has a bounty on it."

The group listening intently, knowing that this was probably the longest talk given by Grimmjaw. "I need a chance," he finished. "I don't have any chances in this world anymore."

More silence passed. It was Rukia who broke the silence. Although her voice was very weak and soft, everyone listened intently. "Grimmjaw, what do you think it takes to have a relationship with Nell? Not anything romantic, just a normal friendly relationship."

Grimmjaw looked surprised. "I-...I know relationships take time...and effort...and other shit- I mean stuff like that.." He started fidgeting with his hands and looked away from Rukia.

Rukia nodded and then smiled weakly. "Yes, they do. And what does trying mean to you?"

No one asked Rukia where she was going with this.

Grimmjaw heaved a great sigh and finally spoke. "Trying is...when you do your best and you fail, but you keep at it. You can fall on yer ass a million times, but you get back up a million and one times."

Rukia said nothing about his reply for a few moments. Then she spoke one word. "Renji..."

"No," he flatly said. Rukia turned toward Ishida. "No," he said as well.

She kept staring at them. "Reeeenjiiiii," she said, with an air of menace. Quite an accomplishment coming from someone who was speared like a shish kabob only a few hours earlier.

"Noooo," Renji said again, but it sounded more like a whine this time.

This time Ishida sighed. Rukia had that look, the look that Kurosaki always warned about.

"Leave it Renji," he said quietly.

Renji was about to make an angry retort, but then seeing that it would be futile, he simply shook his head and turned away from the group.

And so the large group of 10 made their way out of the innermost Las Noches. When they finally reached the sandy desert bathed in darkness and moonlight, Ichigo let out a small sigh of relief. Never had he felt more comforted in the darkness than in sunlight.

After talking amongst each other, it was decided that Nell would have to open the gateway from Hueco Mundo to their world. It would only make sense since that was how Espada always traveled to and from the worlds.

They took a five minute breather to make sure everything was in order. Nell's pet, Bawa-bawa, had inexplicably found them and now she was lightly sleeping against it.

Ichigo was extremely nervous now. Was the great Aizen really just going to let them go? He kept thinking that there might be some sort of trap, but he was getting too tired to think.

"Ichigo-san?" a voice spoke. It was Pesshe.

"Um, yes?" Ichigo replied, unsure of what the arrancar could possibly want with him.

"Um..well you see...I don't think Nell remembers all of her past."

"And that's...bad?" Ichigo asked, still confused.

"You see, Nell..." Pesshe trailed off and looked very uncomfortable.

They were interrupted by a whimper from Nell. Ichigo went up to her. She was still sleeping, but now her peaceful expression looked pained.

"What the hell," Ichigo muttered. "What happened to her Pesshe?" he demanded.

Grimmjaw had come over. "The brat's probably just having a nightmare of you dying," he nonchalantly said to Ichigo and then shook Nell's shoulder. "Hey brat wake up! Yer worrying Ichigo!"

"Don't do that!" Pesshe yelled, but it was too late. Nell screamed as she jumped up. Her eyes were still in a foggy haze. "Don't touch me!" she screamed and backed away from them.

"Nell it's just us," Ichigo said.

"She can't hear us," Grimmjaw said. He had noticed that Nell's eyes were unfocused. "Fuck," he said and then walked away. "She'll snap out of it eventually," he said. "She should," he added quietly.

Ichigo turned toward Pesshe. "Spill," he said. Pesshe sighed and looked at Nell who was still quivering. "You remember when Nnoitra talked about hating Nell?" he said. "Yeah," Ichigo said. "What about it?"

"There was more to it than just her personality," Pesshe finished.

Grimmjaw and Ichigo looked very annoyed. "Like what?" Grimmjaw growled.

"Like," Pesshe said and gulped, "Like the fact that he had tried to take advantage of her..."

There was a great silence before Grimmjaw and Ichigo screamed. "WHAT THE HELL?!" Their voices reverberated across the desert. Pesshe looked frightened because it looked like the two were about to kill him. "I…I should really let Nell tell you the full story," he meekly said. "It's only fair."

He wouldn't say anything more, even when Grimmjaw threatened him. Ichigo sat a bit away from the group as he mulled over what had just been revealed.

He took one last look at Nell who had fallen asleep again, but still was shivering. He sighed and then closed his eyes. "What the hell happened to you Nell?" he murmured.

* * *

Eto...heh...wow...the ending came out kind of depressing...sorry! Must be some left over drama from last week... 

So! Hope you liked this chapter and thank you for all who reviewed as well as those who didn't! I reached 500 hits yesterday for this story! -gasp- THANK YOU! -bows-

And if any of you have any ideas or "what if" scenarios, feel free to leave them. Now that school has started I might have some tough writers block cuz all my thinking goes to my classes and homework. And a small idea goes a long way for me!

Random omake:

Me: -with Tania- So this is what Nell looks like!

Tania: -gasp- She's so preeety!

Me: Yup! -goes to deviant art (the website) And here's some colored pics of her!

Tania:- sees one entitled "El Grito"- WTF? (We're both Mexican by the way)

Me and Tania: -stare- BWAAHAHAHAH! WE KNEW THAT CRAP HAT NNOITRA WAS WEARING WAS REALLY A SOMBRERO!

-everyone else in the room stares at us-

Yeah...sombrero's rock...


	4. Burden of the Past

Yay for flashbacks! Well...not really...and yay for me actually posting within a couple of weeks!

Hahaha...I would have finished this earlier but I watched Grey's Anatomy...and then I got caught up watching Ugly Betty...and then work killed me on Friday...

Me no own Bu-ri-chi, which is how you say it in Japanese.

* * *

Burden of the Past

"We were assigned to protect her after she left," Pesshe spoke quietly. "That's why we told her we were her brothers. It made sense...back then at least."

* * *

Grimmjaw pounded on the 2nd Espada's door. "Dumbass get ready for the fucking meeting!"

There was silence at first, then he heard rustling, and the door opened.

Nnoitra's head poked out and he gave a devious smile. "I'm not too late for Aizen-sama's meeting, no need to get so ruffled."

He walked out, but then turned around and spoke into the doorway, "When I come back shall we continue where we left off Neliel-san?" He gave another grin, one that for some odd reason made Grimmjaw feel sick to his stomach for a brief moment. Curiosity got the better of Grimmjaw and he quickly took a peek inside Nnoitra's room. He found it funny that someone with the personality of Nnoitra would allow people in his room.

Inside he saw a young woman with long hair in one of the corners.

He couldn't see her too well because the lights were so dim in the room and her hair obscured her face. And something...something didn't seem right. He saw the shape of her head nod "yes" to Nnoitra's question, but her entire body seemed tensed up. Grimmjaw usually scoffed at those who believed in their "gut" feeling, but right now his gut feeling was telling him something lay beneath the surface of this strange encounter. He had just stumbled upon something...but of what he couldn't tell.

However Grimmjaw was not one to let these things bug him too long. He merely walked with Nnoitra to his meeting. Grimmjaw wasn't yet a member of the Espada, but he was well on his way to becoming one. Nnoitra was helping him get his foot in the door so to speak. Thus, he was spending a lot more time with the Espada, but this was the first time he had ever seen that woman. He took one last look at the door, half expecting the girl to come out, but nothing happened. Had he went back to the door and listened very carefully, he would have heard heartbreaking sobs.

* * *

Neliel was naive, simply stated. Her ability to smile at everyone was simply because she really didn't know that much about what the Espada were made for. The others told her Shinigami were evil and Espada were good, and she hadn't really questioned anything else. Her cheerfulness put others at ease, but angered others as well. However, her physique was what made her popular. There was more than one arrancar who on occasion would take a long detour just to peek at her training with Halibel. In fact, there was a certain arrancar who would constantly drop by. He was the 2nd Espada, before the Hougyoko came to Las Noches. His name was Nnoitra.

It began as just a little conversation. He always came after Halibel went for a break, knowing that she would catch on quicker to his true intentions. Little conversations during training turned into longer ones while strolling the corridors of Las Noches. And from there it was only natural, from Neliel's point of view, that Nnoitra would have invited her into his room. It just meant that they were getting to know each other better. She should be honored, after all, he was a higher up Espada, and it was only natural. Only natural.

Aizen never really kept tabs on the Espada back then when he was still in Soul Society. So no one noticed that a certain Espada was distraught after a late night meeting in someone else's room. Neliel was too much in shock to tell anyone what had happened and her natural demeaner made her hesitate to tell anyone else, even Halibel.

But then something happened that made Neliel remember what it was to hope. Someone happened. Someone reminded her of what it truly meant to be in love, not what Nnoitra tried to do to her every night.

She met an arrancar named Grimmjaw.

It was when he pounded on the door reminded Nnoitra of the meeting. Neliel had just caught a glimpse of him, but it was enough. It was enough.

She spent days following him, hiding behind pillars and hiding her reiatsu every time he turned around and tried to look for her. He knew someone was following him, but he could never find her.

Neliel finally found the strength to tell Halibel what had been going on. It was not easy. Even newfound strength can break when divulging mortifying personal information.

The bomb exploded the next day.

The bomb being Halibel , the explosion being the rendering of Nnoitra incapable of movement for a whole month. In that month, Neliel was free to act herself again, without worrying about Nnoitra. Free to act on her own accord. Free to dream about gazing into icy blue eyes. Free to...

She finally worked up the courage to talk to him. It was as he was leaving Las Noches on an errand.

"_Ano, sumimasen_." (Um, excuse me)

Grimmjaw stopped and turned around. He looked Neliel up and down and then spoke. "Oh, you again?"

Neliel had to control herself. He remembered her! But what a memory to remember her by.

"My name is Neliel," she quietly said, mentally hitting herself, because it would be obvious to anyone what her name was given her status as an Espada. "Um...are you looking to join the ranks of Espada?" She asked a simple question, hoping to just break the ice.

They started walking down the corridor. "Yeah," Grimmjaw replied. "But my 'mentor' is currently out, no thanks to your friend," he snarled.

Neliel squeaked.

Grimmjaw stared at her, wondering how on Hueco Mundo she became the 3rd Espada. 10th he could understand, but 3rd?

"Uh, yeah..." he simply said. "Hey, look I gotta run, but uh...nice meeting you."

"Nicemeetingyoutoo!" Neliel was so breathless she couldn't even talk normally.

"...uh...yeah..bye, Ne...Nel...um...what was your name?"

Neliel's inner self banged her head against the wall while her outer self calmly replied, "Neliel."

"Neliel...umm, I'll just call you Nell. Easier to remember." And with that Grimmjaw strode off.

"Call me if you wanna have tea together!" _Nell_ called out, then realized he couldn't really call her on a telephone. "I mean...talk to me or...yeah"

Grimmjaw didn't turn around but merely raised his hand, as if letting her know he heard her.

Most girls would have ran back to their room crying over such an awkward moment, but Nell danced back to her room. She was very optimistic, in case you haven't been able to tell.

The next day she said "Good Morning," 10 times more cheerfully than she normally did to everyone who passed her way. Although she didn't get to talk to Grimmjaw directly again, it was obvious she had a crush on him.

Obvious to everyone. Even the ones who shouldn't have known.

Nell would have been aware of his reiatsu the night it happened. But she was careless, lost in a daydream. She might have been able to react if she had just been more aware.

One second she was dreaming about being in the arms of her true love, the next she was in a chokehold on the floor.

"Don't tell me you forgot about lil' ol' me?" Nnoitra whispered into her ear. And suddenly Nell was back where she was before.

"Why do you like him?" Nnoitra demanded. Nell's eyes widened in shock. "What are you talking about?" she tried to lie.

"Don't fuck with me!" Nnoitra screamed, banging her head against the floor. "It's so obvious it's sickening. A 3rd ranked Espada falling in love with an arrancar." Nnoitra spat in her face. "I'm not worth your time, but suddenly this guy is?" His arm snaked around her body, feeling places where Nell knew he wasn't allowed. "You're not gonna get away this time," he whispered.

Nell screamed at her body to move, but all she could do was bite down on Nnoitra's hand.

"Bitch!" he yelled, pulling back his hand, and in that second Nell rolled away and ran down the corridor as fast as she could. She didn't expect Nnoitra to attack from behind. So she wasn't prepared when his blade hit the back of her head with a sickening crunch. She fell to her knees. Her last memory was of being in pain and staring at Nnoitra from the floor as his blade came toward her face.

Then all became enveloped in darkness.

* * *

"Nell-chan, Nell-chan, can you hear me?"

A voice drifted around Nell as she floated in between consciousness and sleep. She slowly opened her eyes. Orihime was standing over her. "Are you okay?" she whispered. Nell was confused for a moment, and then it all came crashing down on her. She began sobbing and Pesshe ran over to her.

"Nell-sama, don't cry!" He hugged her tightly. "Don't cry," he repeated, but she couldn't stop herself. Ichigo was a few feet away from her and stayed silent.

"Why didn't you tell me?" she finally choked out.

Pesshe looked very nervous. "We were told not to."

Nell was so surprised she stopped crying. "Who? Who told you?"

Dondo Chakker and Pesshe exchanged looks. "Nell-sama, you aren't aware of this, but after Nnoitra threw you out, no one except Halibel was really concerned."

Ichigo growled, but said nothing.

"In Las Noches, what Nnoitra did wasn't condoned," Pesshe continued, "He simply told everyone you two were in a fight and he won. In that case, it was seen as a blessing to be rid of a weak Espada."

The entire group was now silent. "But Halibel suspected otherwise." Pesshe and the others turned to Nell, but she wasn't about to tell them details of the fight.

Almost everyone understood her nervousness and left the subject alone, but Grimmjaw wouldn't. He walked up to Nell and knelt beside her.

"Nell, what did he do to you?" Grimmjaw was quiet yet demanding in his asking.

Nell said nothing, tears streaming silently down her face, and just shook her head.

"Nell, don't pull that shit on me. Tell me the truth."

Nell still shook her head and said nothing.

Grimmjaw asked again. "Did...he actually-"

"No!" she finally cried out, her entire face turning red. "No, no he didn't. He...he..." She stopped talking.

Nell squeezed her eyes so tight Grimmjaw swore he saw blood come out. She shook her head slowly back and forth. "I...I wasn't paying attention that night...so when he came up behind me...I couldn't fight back...but I ran away before he could..." She slowly exhaled. "I ran away...just not far enough."

She looked very small, as if she had changed back into a little toddler. She had her arms wrapped around her knees which were tucked toward her. Grimmjaw sighed, as if teaching an ignorant little child the moral to an Aesop fable.

"Don't get all fucking depressed on me now brat. You're stronger than that. Remember when I saw you right after Ulquiorra beat the crap outta Ichigo?"

Nell looked surprised for a moment, but then nodded, acknowledging the memory.

"Yes, yes I remember," she replied, frowning and wondering what this had to do with the convsersation.

"You were crying your eyes out," he said. "And I told you to shut up cuz you were such a damn loud crybaby."

Nell couldn't help but smile at this last sentence.

"But you're not that crybaby anymore." Grimmjaw looked directly into her eyes as he said this. Nell felt a shiver run through her body as she stared back into his icy blue eyes.

"You're stronger now. You were strong back then, you just didn't know it. And you're stronger today. I never want to see you thinking you're that weak again, got it ya little piece of shit?" Grimmjaw made no move to give Nell a reassuring hug or anything, but instead, rubbed his hand very hard against the top of her head, ruffling up her hair.

Which in Grimmjaw's case, was probably just as good as a hug, seeing as how the Espada never touched anyone unless it was to main them.

Ichigo gave a long drawn out sigh, and looked at the group before him. He honestly didn't know what Nell saw in Grimmjaw, but he knew it wasn't his place to say anything. He looked up at the moon, its cold light bathing them all. He suddenly wanted to be back in a warm bed in Karakura town.

The rest of the group settled down to sleep, everyone felt drained of energy after Nell's outburst. Renji and Ishida kept guard while the others tried to get a decent amount of sleep, which was hard because they all felt a little disturbed knowing about Nell's past. Renji and Ishida were just as tired as the rest; perhaps that was why they didn't notice the faint reiatsu which had been following the group for some time.

They were not alone.

* * *

Hm, came out longer than I expected. Hope you liked it, if you did please review! It really helps when I'm dead tired and I see that people enjoy what pops out of my imagination. Thanks for all the fav stories and alerts!!!

Hopefully next chapter Nell will be acting like her happy self again.

Oh, and the title of this chapter comes from a song on the first Bleach soundtrack.


	5. What you mean to me

Sooo...waking up at 5 am and going to bed at 2 am for 3 consecutive days is NOT good...in case ya'll didn't already know that...

Meh...I feel so uncreative lately...hope it hasn't affected the quality of my fanfic. (Please blame spelling/grammar errors on lack of sleep and time once again)

Disclaimer: I only own...I don't even own some of the Bleach manga volumes...I own the plot though! -cuddles my plot-

* * *

"Neliel-sama...Neliel-sama, please wake up." 

Neliel slowly opened her eyes and shifted in her bed. Who was calling her?

She finally focused her eyes on the two blurs in front of her.

"Ah, you're finally awake Neliel-sama, you had us worried there for a second."

Neliel blinked once and then once again. She was in her room when she used to be an Espada.

"Wh-what h-happend?" she finally stuttered out.

Pesshe and Dondo Chakker exchanged looks. "What do you mean? We were trying to wake you from a nightmare."

"No, no that wasn't a nightmare. I..Ichigo and...Grimmjaw-" But she stopped in mid sentence because saying their names caused her chest to tighten painfully.

Now her two friends looked positively confused. "Neliel-sama, who are you talking about?"

"Nobody," a familar cocky voice answered. Someone's cold body pressed against her back and a thin cold hand crept around her neck. "No one that matters anyhow."

Neliel opened her mouth to scream, but nothing came out.

And then someone was shaking her. _"Nell, Nell-chan wake up!"_

Nell opened her eyes...and saw a very frightened Orihime staring back at her.

"You were...crying...in your sleep, "Orihime awkardly stated. Nell blinked and rubbed her eyes. She felt like a million and one years had passed since she had fallen asleep. She shook her head as if trying to shake out her bad dream. She hated dreams that involved the past. They always left her with a strange feeling after waking up.

Technically, the next day had dawned. Seeing as how it was always night in Hueco Mundo however, the moon just moved over to the other side of the sky to signify the next day...er...night.

Ishida and Renji switched with Ichigo as well as Pesshe and Dondo Chakker as watch guards. Rukia was up and walking around even though Ichigo was constantly telling her to rest. She responded to all his outcries with the same attitude: don't care, so shut up already. This was augmented by repeated hits to Ichigo's head. Eventually Ichigo gave up (most likely due to a coming headache) and let her walk around.

Still no sign of any Espada, and the group still had to decide on how to leave. Renji and Ishida were still against bringing Grimmjaw with them while Rukia and Orihime were arguing in his defense. Ichigo and Chad tried to stay out of it, but to no avail.

Finally a general agreement was made. Ichigo and Grimmjaw would stay behind as Nell took everyone else to the human world. It appeased Ishida and Renji because they were afraid of a double cross from Grimmjaw during the time between worlds. It was beneficial because it got Orihime out as soon as possible from Hueco Mundo while making sure Chad and Rukia could get to Urahara's store and recuperate.

A slight problem arose however.

"No," said Nell to Ichigo after he told her the plan.

"_Nani_?!" Ichigo screamed. It had taken nearly an hour to hammer out a "treaty."

"I have two problems," Nell continued.

"Two she says," Ichigo muttered under his breath.

Nell kicked him in his stomach. She didn't aim for his head because she figured Rukia had already done enough damage in that area.

"What about my friends?" she asked.

Ichigo let out a big sigh of relief (after rubbing his stomach). It was just her friends she was worried about. "We'll let you take Pesshe and Dondo Chakker with you of course," he calmly said.

"What about Bawa-bawa?"

"What _about_ Bawa-bawa?"

"He can come too?"

"Yeeeess," Ichigo exasperatedly hissed out. "Urahara's training ground has lots of space and sand for him."

"And Grimmjaw?"

Ichigo said nothing due to his confusion, so she continued. "_Both_ of you will come?"

Ichigo closed his eyes. "Nell," he began. "I promise you that we'll both come to join you guys." He opened his eyes to find her trembling. "Nell, it'll turn out all right, I promise, okay?"

"You won't hurt him?"

Ichigo looked at Nell in shock. "Hurt? Why would I-" He shook his head. "Nell, don't get me wrong. I'm not gonna let him out of my sights when we get back and we won't be the best of friends. But I know you have a connection to him, and I value my life," he chuckled.

Nell still didn't look convinced.

Ichigo looked at the rest of the group which had already started to get ready. Ishida and Renji were giving him "hurry up" looks. He turned back to Nell whose eyes were cast downward. With her bare feet she slowly made little patterns in the sand.

Ichigo took a deep breath. "Nell, to me, you'll always be the little toddler who rode on my shoulders as I invaded Las Noches."

Nell faintly smiled at the sand.

"Even now, after you've changed...you haven't changed to me. I would never lie to a toddler and I will never lie to you when it involves someone you care for deeply."

Silence for a brief moment enveloped the two.

Nell suddenly jerked her head up and said in a playful voice, "So you mean even though I have bigger boobies than Orihime you'll always think of me as lil' Nell-chan?!"

Ichigo's face was priceless, even from a distance; Rukia wished she had a camera to take a picture and then show her brother.

"Wh-wh-why...wh-what's that supposed to...DAMMIT NELL!" Ichigo finally roared.

"Hahaha, boobies!" Nell cried out as she hugged him tightly.

"Leggo of me" Ichigo yelled and tried in vain to pull away from her. She released a little of her grip on him, but still held on tight as the two walked/were dragged toward the rest of the group.

"What's so funny?" Orihime innocently asked.

"Boobies!" Nell cried out.

"QUIT SAYING THAT!"

"BOOOOOOOBIEEEEES!!!!"

"I'm not even gonna go there," Grimmjaw muttered.

The rest of the group just sweatdropped and were glad their name wasn't Kurosaki Ichigo at the moment.

"Well then, shall we begin?" Ishida asked, trying to get the group back on track.

"So..uh...I'm going with you guys?" Grimmjaw asked. He tried to sound as polite as possible, but since he didn't even sound polite to Aizen, he obviously had had no previous training and came out sounding downright weird.

The rest of the group stared. "God, it's like watching Ishida being polite to a Shinigami," Ichigo muttered to Rukia. She nodded in agreement.

Renji's eyebrow twitched..rather scary if you can imagine it...and jerkily nodded his head yes.

"Ah, I see. Thank you."

_"Oh my God the apocalypse is upon us all", _thought everyone in the group. "Dude, he's so out of character today," Renji muttered to Ishida and Chad who nodded in agreement.

"Well maybe if the authoress would put me more IN character, we wouldn't be having this problem!" Grimmjaw yelled into the night sky.

"Grimmjaw quit breaking the fourth wall," Nell impatiently said.

"...Right, then..." Ishida said. "Now shall we begin?" he asked for the second time.

Nell nodded and closed her eyes. She raised her sword, and then swiftly cut the air in a right to left motion. A strange noise like a zipper being zipped or a record being scratched accompanied the cut. A split second later what looked like a flowing black curtain made of water or wind appeared. For a brief moment everyone looked in awe at the Garganta created so easily.

Nell turned around and bowed to the group. "After you," she playfully said.

Ishida turned toward Orihime. "It would be best if you traveled with me so my reiatsu can-WOMAN WAIT!!"

Orihime had already jumped in with a gleeful "Whee!"

An open jawed Ishida turned toward Ichigo.

"What?" Ichigo nonchalantly replied. "She's powerful too ya know."

Ishida said nothing and jumped in after her. Renji, Rukia, and Chad soon followed after them.

What happened next was rather scary. Pesshe and Dondo Chakker had climbed on top of Bawa-bawa and were charging toward the opening at a rather ominous speed.

"Wooohooo!" one of them yelled, and then they too had gone.

Nell giggled while Ichigo and Grimmjaw stared at the trail of dust they left behind. "In you go Nell," Ichigo said. She smiled and gave him a quick hug. "See you on the other side Grimmjaw," she said, slightly blushing and without waiting for a reply, she jumped in as well.

"Rather risky of you being here with me," Grimmjaw said with an evil grin. Ichigo rolled his eyes. "I beat yer ass once already I can do it again," he replied. "Besides-" Ichigo's eyes suddenly narrowed. "DOWN!" he yelled.

A moment later a large staff came slicing where their heads would have been. Ichigo got up just in time to see the back of Nnoitra jump into the opening. "No you don't you bastard!" he yelled and quickly jumped in too. Nnoitra hadn't gone far in so Ichigo was able to fling him out onto the sand. "Grimmjaw shut it or something!" Ichigo cried as he tried to keep Nnoitra a safe distance away. However, the 5th Espada had other plans. In the split second that Ichigo had used to yell at Grimmjaw, Nnoitra did a quick sonido and slashed at him with his staff.

"Shit," was all Grimmjaw could say before trying to run over Ichigo.

--

Meanwhile, the others were still traveling. "Nell, are we doing this correctly?" Orihime asked.

"This is what it looked like when we came here," Ishida answered her.

"Ishida...where's Nell?" Orihime asked with despair. "What are you talking about?" he replied. "She's right behind...us?"

The entire group turned around to find nothing.

"That reiatsu..."Orihime murmured. "It feels like..."

--

Ichigo's eyesight was blurry as he tried to stand up. How did everything go wrong so quickly? He was near the Garganta and could have sworn he heard Nell's voice. Wait a second...that WAS Nell's voice.

"Ichiiiigooooo!" Nell cried out. She had turned back once recognizing the reiatsu that came through the gate.

"Ichigo are you al-"

"Nell you idiot don't-!" Grimmjaw yelled but it was too late. With one swift motion Nnoitra had flung Ichigo into the gate and sealed it, leaving Nell as his prey.

"My, my, my, how the tables have turned." Nnoitra smirked at a surprised Nell. "So you've regained all your memories ya lil' brat," he continued. Grimmjaw said nothing, he just waited to see what Nnoitra's plan was.

"Did ya miss me?" he cooed.

Nell stared at Nnoitra, and for the first time, Grimmjaw saw a strong desire to kill gleam in her eyes.

"You," she started, but in her fury she choked on her words.

Nnoitra rolled his eyes. "Don't tell me you're gonna try and kill me again cuz in case you couldn't tell you can't do shit to-AAAH!"

Nell had successfuly manuevered her foot underneath his chin and kicked with all her might.

She then began slicing at him with her sword. Nnoitra was so taken aback all he could do was move out of the way and not even try to retaliate. "You-_slash-_son of a -_slash_- BITCH!"

Grimmjaw gave a low whistle as he witnessed a woman's wrath. "Geez, I can't let her have all the fun." He ran over and made sure Nnoitra couldn't escape from behind. "Hey, Nnoitra, did you really think you could go up against the two of us?"

Nnoitra shot him a look of disgust. "Of course!" he yelled. "How could a lower ranked Espada and a fucking woman defeat me?"

Nell's sword connected with his skin and sliced his side.

"Wrong answer," Grimmjaw chucked. "So pathetic...you didn't even have a plan did you?"

Nnoitra's entire body shook with fury.

Nell giggled. "Hey Grimmjaw, now that I think about it, Nnoitra's staff is unusually large. In fact, it's gotten bigger over the years."

Grimmjaw grinned manically. "You think he's trying to overcompensate for something?" he sneakily asked.

"Hmm, that would explain a lot," Nell giggled again.

By this time, Nnoitra was beyond mortified. "If you don't mind Nell, I'll finish him. Think of it as a long overdue apology for all the shit he's put you through," Grimmjaw said, and then to the amazement of both, he released his sword and looked like a panther once more. He ran towards Nnoitra, and was about to give the finishing blow, when suddenly Nnoitra wasn't there anymore.

He had disappeared. Grimmjaw blinked and realized that his reiatsu had also disappeared. Perhaps someone higher ranking had seen fit to end their fight prematurely. He turned around and saw Nell staring at him in awe.

"What are you looking at?" he increduously asked.

"You..you look like...a..." Nell murmured.

"A panther?" Grimmjaw was now totally confused. There was nothing new about his released state. Nell ran up to him and suddenly scooped him up into her arms. "KITTY!" she yelled happily and swung him around.

_"Oh my God she did not just do what I think she did_," Grimmjaw thought. His brain circuits were getting fried from the aburdity of it all.

--

_"Did you get back Nnoitra?"_

_"Yes, Aizen-sama."_

_"Good. That reckless fool would have gotten himself killed had we not intervened."_

_"What shall I do with Grimmjaw?"_

_A soft smile formed on the lips of a man seated on a throne. "Destroy his heart."_

_"As you wish Aizen-sama."_

_--_

"Nell, seriously, let go of me!" Grimmjaw was finally able to yell. Nell blushed as she realized how close they were. She dropped him like a hot potato onto the sand.

"Jeez woman, not on my ass," he muttered.

"Trash," a voice murmured dangerously nearby. Nell froze and Grimmjaw sprang back up. He felt a rush of wind behind him and before he could blink, Ulquiorra held Nell captive.

"For crying out loud will you people stop popping in and out?!" Grimmjaw screamed at the fourth Espada.

Ulquiorra ignored the outburst and tightened his grip on Nell. Without giving her any chance to run away, his hand shot through her chest, piercing it.

Grimmjaw was too shocked to say anything. One second Nell had been laughing and the next, all he could see was her shocked face as she slowly fell to the floor, bleeding profusely. Grimmjaw stared at Ulquiorra as fury engulfed him. Never before had he felt such a strong desire to kill something. He literally saw red. He stepped toward Ulquiorra, but the fourth Espada had already put a safe distance between the two.

"Do you really have time for me?" he calmly asked Grimmjaw.

"I can make all the time I want, you bastard," Grimmjaw angrily replied and made to fire a cero.

"Grimmjaw..."

It was that weak voice that made him stop in his tracks.

"Grimmjaw, where are you?" Nell cried out. Grimmjaw looked at Ulquiorra and then back at Nell.

"Aizen-sama wishes you both the best of luck. When the war begins, he shall make sure you two will be the first casualties." And with that Ulquiorra disappeared.

Grimmjaw yelled aimlessly with all his might. Why the hell hadn't he reacted in time. The urge to run after Ulquiorra and beat the living crap out of him was so strong he couldn't see straight. Obviously it made more sense to tend to Nell, but killing seemed so much more satisfying.

"You didn't leave me did you?" Nell began to sob. She was lying on her side, unable to get up. As Grimmjaw walked toward her, he noticed how much the blood had flowed.

"Oh, fuck Nell, I'm so-" he was interrupted by a cry from Nell.

"Don't apologize, I let my guard down...as usual," Nell said, wincing in pain. "That tends to happen whenever you're around," she added, but she sounded fainter.

"Nell!" Grimmjaw cried and tried to scoop her up without getting too soaked in blood. She closed her eyes. "Can we leave this place? I don't think...I... like...it anymore..." she trailed off.

Grimmjaw hissed in frustration. With much difficulty, he was able to open the gate and jumped through. If he didn't find someone to heal Nell, she was going to die. He didn't even know where the others were going to be.

"Dammit, dammit, DAMMIT!"

--

Meanwhile, the rest of the group had made it back to the human world. Urahara and Yoruichi immediately followed their reiatsu from the shop and were tending to Rukia and Chad.

Suddenly a bloody Ichigo fell through the gate.

Everyone gave a loud cry as they all rushed towards him.

"What happened?" Ishida quickly asked.

"That bastard Nnoitra attacked us. He shut the gate after me," Ichigo managed to get out.

Urahara said nothing. "Us?" he finally asked. Everyone stared at the shop owner and realized they had a looong story to tell him.

"I know that they'll make it through," Ichigo finally said to the others in the group. "We just have to find them."

No one said anything to him, but everyone was thinking the same thing. _If..if they come through..._

--

Grimmjaw finally made it to the other side. He looked around and tried to get his bearings. He'd been here twice before, why the hell hadn't he even bothered to try remembering where anything was?

"Kurosaki!" he called out, but he highly doubted Ichigo was nearby. "Fuck," he said and then began letting out his reiatsu in bursts, that way the others could find him.

Grimmjaw took another look around him while holding Nell tight. Come to think of it...this place kind of looked familiar.

--

Everyone felt the reiatsu bursts at the same time.

"That's them!" Ichigo happily shouted. In his usual fashion, even though he was wounded, he jumped up to the nearest roof.

"Uh...Urahara, isn't that in the direction of..?" Ichigo slowly asked.

Urahara and Yoruichi looked at each other and then sighed. "Of all the places he could have landed by." Urahara muttered.

"What? What's wrong?" Ishida asked.

--

"Shinji you dickhead where are you going?" a small golden-haired girl yelled. A sandal flew from her hand after her outburst and nearly hit its target.

"Someone's outside, can't you feel it?" Shinji exasperatedly said and kept running.

The other Vizards followed suit, wondering who would be stupid enough to keep sending out reiatsu bursts in front of their home.

"Dammit, and we were just starting dinner," Shinji whined.

However, no one was prepared for the sight when they got outside.

"What.The.Fuck.Are.You.Doing.Here." Shinji asked in a deadpan voice.

Grimmjaw turned and saw the person who nearly kicked his ass, if Ulquiorra hadn't stepped in that is.

"This isn't my fucking day," he muttered.

* * *

Wooh...okay...done for now...dude!! 1665 hits!! Thank you!! 

Man...it took so long writing this. You have no idea how hard it is to switch between different scenes..or maybe you do…I wanted it all to make as much sense as possible…but I don't know..lemme know if you liked it!

Oh,and thank you to IchigoBLEACHcake who gave me the idea for the whole "kitty!" scene. If you go to their Deviant Art there's a pic entitled Nell vs Grimmjow which totally made my day.


	6. Separation Anxiety

Due to circumstances beyond the authoress's control (like having midterms and papers due on the same day), this chapter is extremely late...like...REALLY late...

Ulquiorra: Only trash would behave like this.

Me: I don't want to hear that coming from a guy who looks like he wants to join Greenday ( I don't hate that band btw, I actually like them...)

Ulquiorra:...how did you know I love their music?

Me:...oh wow...

Disclaimer:

Ulquiorra: Do you really think this trash can own Bleach copyrights?

Me: QUIT CALLING ME TRASH!!!!

* * *

Grimmjaw couldn't believe his luck...or rather his lack of it. 

"Answer me arrancar," Shinji repeated. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Oy, Shinji, what's that in his arms?" an inquisitive Mashiro asked.

It was night, so Nell wasn't immediately visible to the group.

"_Ne ne_, it's dripping something all over," Hiyori pointed out.

The Vizards all realized at once what was in his arms.

"OH MY GOD HE KILLED SOMEONE!"

"That's just sick man!"

"This is _so_ much better than reading my Shonen Jump!"

"Can I go back to tuning my guitar?"

"_Ano_...I can heal her..."

"Ah, I see! You came here to dump the body and blame us!"

"No, you fucking idiots! Wait, who said they could heal her?"

The group fell silent as Hachi slowly raised his hand. "That would be me..." However he trailed off after receiving a death glare from Hirako and the other Vizards.

Grimmjaw racked his brain quickly trying to figure out if the man really meant what he said. He was a good guy, right? And all good guys always told the truth, right?

Grimmjaw tried to bow, but found it hard carrying Nell's body. "Please, she was pierced by one of the Espada. I don't know how long she can last in this condition." He moved toward Hachi, but a cold blade slithered across his neck.

"Arrancar, you sure got some nerve," Hirako smoothly said. "I don't care what happened to your friend here, for all I know you were the one who caused the wound. Just get the hell out of our neighborhood."

Grimmjaw turned to look at Hirako. His eyes normally held a glint of mischief, but only pure hatred stared back at Grimmjaw.

"Look...I don't have time...no, that's not right." Grimmjaw turned to look at the pale Nell. "_She_ doesn't have the time for this crap."

"What happened to her is none of my concern Arrancar," Hirako said, emphasizing each word slowly.

"All I want you to do is heal her, stupid Beatles wannabe," Grimmjaw retorted.

The Vizards sighed. All hell was about to break loose.

Hirako looked stunned and then turned red. "I am NOT a Beatles wannabe!"

"With that fucking hairdo you look like it!"

"Well take a look in the mirror and marvel at your baby blue eye shadow!"

"I was fucking MADE this way! At least you can change your hair!"

"IT'S BABY BLUE FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!"

They were too busy arguing to notice someone move.

A loud _thwunk_ resounded from the craniums of Hirako and Grimmjaw as Hachi hit them. Hachi then scooped up Nell from Grimmjaw's arms as he fell to the floor.

The wind softly blew by everyone as they watched in shock. Hachi carried Nell away from the others and into the warehouse.

For a few moments no one could say anything. Hiyori scoffed. "Stupid fatty and his soft heartedness."

Grimmjaw rubbed his head. Well, at least Nell was safe now. But where were Ichigo and the others?

"Tch, that girl better not be in league with you," Hirako muttered.

"Who cares who the bitch is with, we'll just kick her out as soon as she's healed," Hiyori drawled.

Something inside Grimmjaw snapped. Hirako's sword was no longer at his neck, and in less than a few seconds Grimmjaw's hand was wrapped around Hiyori's neck.

"Damn that girl always pisses people off," Rose muttered to no one in particular.

"Don't ever call her that again," Grimmjaw hissed through clenched teeth.

"Who is she?" Hiyori taunted. "Your girlfriend?" Her hand tightened on Grimmjaw's wrist and weakened his grip on her neck. "She's got a pretty lame ass boyfriend," she snorted, rolling her eyes.

Grimmjaw's grip on her neck suddenly tightened. Hiyori felt an odd déjà-vu of when Ichigo's hollow attacked her.

"Take it back you little piece of-" Grimmjaw stopped, due to a sharp pain in his back.

"Arrancar, release her now." Hirako shook with a silent fury.

"I said," he repeated. "Get your filthy hands off of her." His sword went a bit further into Grimmjaw's back.

Grimmjaw let go of Hiyori's neck, and consequently, Hirako took his sword out of Grimmjaw's back. But Grimmjaw still stared at Hiyori with the utmost loathing. "Take it back," he said again. Hiyori looked confused. "Take what back? The fact that you're a lame ass boyfriend?"

Grimmjaw sighed and briefly closed his eyes. "No you little shrimp, take back what you called Nell."

Hiyori looked even more confused. "What's wrong with calling her a bit-"

And now the chokehold made an encore presentation.

"Let her go," a familiar and tired out voice called from beyond the shadows.

Everyone turned to look at three figures appearing from the darkness.

Ichigo, followed by Urahara and Yoruichi had come.

Ichigo turned to Hirako whose sword was once again lodged in Grimmjaw's back. "Where's the other one?"

"You mean you know them?" Hirako incredulously asked. He drew back his sword.

Ichigo sighed. "I'll explain later. But where's the woman?"

"Hachi took her away for healing. Now explain why this arrancar-"

Ichigo interrupted him to speak to Grimmjaw.

"Nell's gonna be fine, so step away from Hiyori."

Tense silence permeated the atmosphere as everyone stared at Grimmjaw glaring at Hiyori.

"Listen to me Grimmjaw," Ichigo felt like he was speaking to someone about to jump off a roof and kill themselves.

"Listen," he repeated. "It's not worth the consequence."

"She..." Grimmjaw said through clenched teeth. "She called Nell a-"

"That doesn't matter," Ichigo replied. "You've gone past the stage of simply acting on your urges. Nell didn't save you only to have you wind up in the same place. Don't do the stupidest thing you could ever do."

The rest of the Vizards suddenly got the impression that they were watching an after school public service announcement.

"Totally ruins the mood," Love whispered to Lisa. Lisa nodded in agreement.

Grimmjaw finally released Hiyori, stepped away, and walked toward Ichigo. "Urahara-san, could you please keep an eye on him at your place until we figure out what to do?" Ichigo asked politely.

"Gladly Kurosaki-kun," Urahara replied, and with that he quickly walked over to Grimmjaw, gently took his arm, and guided him away from the rest of the Vizards.

Ichigo breathed a sigh of relief. _Well, at least that didn't go so badly...hmmm...what's this deadly reiatsu I feel?_

Ichigo then turned around and noticed a very pissed off Hirako.

"Oh that's right...you..."

"WHY ARE YOU SAYING THAT SO NONCHALANTLY!? AND WHY THE HELL IS THAT BLOODTHIRSTY IDIOT WITH YOU!?"

Ichigo rubbed his forehead. He honestly didn't know what strength was still left in him that kept him standing. The energy of Hirako just seemed to suck at his own.

"Ichigo," Yoruichi suddenly spoke up. "Explain the full story to them while I check on your friend."

At this remark, some other Vizards started yelling. Ichigo couldn't really hear them; random phrases of "shinigami filth" and "not in our home" somehow made it into his ears and were understood by his brain.

However, the majority of noises and people were all turning into a blur.

"Ichigo, tell me already who that woman is and why's she...Ichigo, are you alright?"

The other Vizards were still arguing with Yoruichi, so Hirako was the only one who saw Ichigo pitch forward.

"Dammit..." he muttered before collapsing onto the pavement.

With a thud, Ichigo came to rest and only then did the other Vizards notice his predicament.

"Oh shit...you're not gonna blame this on me are you?" Hirako laughed nervously.

Yoruichi was about to make an angry remark when she froze. _His reiatsu, no! It's too soon!_

The others noticed it at the exact same time.

Hirako looked down at Ichigo. "_Baka_," he sighed. "What have we told you about controlling your hollow?"

"Um...Shinji," Mashiro began. "Why is Hachi running out of the warehouse?"

As if watching a tennis match, everyone's heads turned at the exact same time to see a very disgruntled Hachi.

"Get him out," was all Hachi said.

Confusion was painted on everyone's faces. "Get who out?" Love asked.

"That annoying boy who looks like Ichigo," Hachi answered.

Yoruichi sighed. Urahara had warned about this. Granted, he had calculated it to happen weeks, maybe even days later, but definitely not in mere minutes. It had been something about Hueco Mundo's spiritual energy and some other scientific babble that she really didn't understand. Well, only one thing she had understood.

"Kurosaki-kun has physically split," she declared to everyone. "His hollow seems to be in your home as we speak."

A horrified silence followed this statement, which was broken by...

"HE BETTER LEAVE MY SHONEN JUMP ALONE!"

"HE BETTER NOT TOUCH MY GUITAR!"

And with that, Love and Rose ran like madmen back into the warehouse.

"Tch, why couldn't this day end on a good note," Hirako whined.

* * *

Nell couldn't feel anything. Not her arms, not her legs, not even her heartbeat. Wait, as an arrancar, she _did_ have a heartbeat, right? Nell pondered this quandary with indifference. Then something started to prick her. It was small at first, then it got bigger and she began to feel it around her entire body. Slowly the numbness disappeared and she could feel again. Slowly she opened her eyes, and slowly... 

"Ah, you're awake, sleeping beauty."

That voice...why did it sound like?

"Ichigo?" Nell asked the voice.

"Eh, kinda," it replied.

Nell did her best to open her eyes as wide as she could and turned to face the voice. A completely white Ichigo was staring back at her.

"Nice to meetcha!" it said happily. "You're hot!"

* * *

Heh heh...hope this chapter was okay even though it's short. I've got a rough plot in my mind, so just know that I'll never abandon this story...it might go for a month not being updated...but NEVER abandoned... 

Kensei: I got no lines!

Me: Shuddup, you were there in the background.

To me, this chapter is important even if it was late! Because this is the first fic I've written that went beyond Chapter 6! Yay me!

Ulquiorra: - to Grimmjaw- Why is she so happy?

Grimmjaw: I learned a long time ago to stop asking.

Random Omake:

HALLOWEEN! (Dia de Los Muertos sounds so much cooler though...)

Nell: Look Grimmjaw, there's people dressed up as Espada!

Grimmjaw: Hah, they have no lives.

Ichigo: One of 'em's dressed like you.

Grimmjaw: -yells at the kid- You kick ass man!

Random Kid:...o-okay then...


	7. Icky Thump

Here's the chapter...after finals and teeth being pulled...but here it is...in all its glory...

Disclaimer: You know the drill. I only own the plot...dammit…

* * *

Ichigo's hollow was a proud man. Well, he wasn't exactly a man, but being a proud hollow didn't have the same pizzazz. He was proud of being the one whom Ichigo would have to depend on if the situation was too tough. It gave him some sadistic pleasure knowing that he had that kind of power over Ichigo. The only minor thing he hated was the fact that he was stuck in Ichigo's body all the time. 

Granted, sometimes Ichigo did some pretty crazy and stupid shit, which gave him time to laugh, but other than that, there was nothing to do. Entry into Hueco Mundo had proved interesting, but after awhile it got a little old.

Then, quite randomly, this annoying little brat that had been hanging out with Ichigo and his friends turned into a hot babe. Ichigo's hollow, being true to the idea that he was opposite of Ichigo (having white ban kai and all) was extremely...er...let's just say "happy" at her appearance; Ichigo himself was still freaking out over the fact that someone whom he treated as a little sister now looked like she could be a hot girlfriend of one of his friends (the idea of her being _his_ hot girlfriend was beyond his embarressed comprehension.)

And now to make matters even more interesting, as soon as Ichigo had returned to the real world his hollow somehow felt the ability to leave his body. It sounded absurd...until he actually tried it...and it worked.

And lo and behold, now here he was sitting next to the extremely hot chick Ichigo had picked up from Hueco Mundo.

"You can call me Shirosaki (1)," he told the wide eyed ex-Espada, after realizing "The Other Ichigo" just didn't have the same kind of ring to it.

Nell, believe it or not, was speechless. She didn't know how to react. As Love and Rose rushed in to make sure their treasures had not been disturbed, they glanced at the "white Ichigo" and then did a double take.

"Whoa," Love said to Rose, who nodded his head in silent shocked agreement.

Shirosaki continued. "I've known you as long as Ichigo has. So you don't need to introduce yourself." He grinned his characteristic maniacal grin.

Nell blinked, and then blinked again. She suddenly leaned foward, becoming dangerously close to his face.

"Does your voice ALWAYS sound that messed up?" she asked inquisitively.

Love and Rose stifled their laughs.

Shirosaki was now the one left dumbstruck.

"I mean, you make me wanna clear my throat everytime you finish a sentence!" Nell continued, oblivious to the fact that her question was a tad tactless.

"Um...nooo...I do...always sound...like this," Shirosaki begrudgingly answered.

"Oh," Nell responded flatly.

Silence enveloped the two.

"Soooo, you don't need it fixed or anything, right?" she asked.

Shirosaki's mind was beginning to defrost.

"No, no, of course not," he joked.

"Cuz you know I could fix it for you." Nell's thoughtful big green eyes blinked at Shirosaki's yellow ones.

He gently laughed condescendingly and snaked his arm around Nell's shoulders. "And how would you do that?" he asked in what he thought was a seductive voice.

"With this!" Nell pulled out her sword from God only knows where and stuck it in front of Shirosaki's neck.

Love and Rose at this point couldn't take it any longer and ran behind a large rock to laugh their asses off.

"You'll fix my voice by shanking my throat?" he incredulously asked.

"_Hai_!" Nell perkily replied.

Meanwhile the others had come down and were trying to piece together what had happened by talking to Love and Rose. But the two were for some unknown reason convulsed in laughter and were having a hard time trying to explain. Finally, the two calmed down and described what had transpired.

Yoruichi sighed as she stared at the pair, happily joking away. It seemed rather obvious now that they would get along, but seeing it was definitely something else.

"I'll take them off your hands," she finally said after rubbing her temples for a few minutes. "Kisuke will know what to do...he _better_ know," Yoruichi growled and began to mutter some unintelligible curse words, but she was interrupted by a loud and high pitched shriek.

All eyes turned toward Nell who stood on shaky feet and wobbled towards them.

"Where's Grimmjaw?" she asked, her eyes were full of sadness and apprehension.

Shirosaki felt genuine sympathy for the arrancar girl, but it was quickly replaced by a hot swoop of jealousy.

"By Grimmjaw, are you referring to that annoying baby blue mascara wearing dickhead?" Hiyori answered in her usual tone of voice.

Nell pondered this description for a moment. "Yes, but um..." She trailed off, realizing that Grimmjaw probably had done something to piss off the girl while she was unconscious. Nell hesitated in continuing.

"So, he's okay then...right?" She forced a smile. "Hah, I guess he must be fine if he's acting his usual self." She laughed, but inside Nell wondered why he wasn't by her side.

The vizards were extremely taken aback. "Tch, she's the polar opposite of him," Hirako muttered to the others.

Nell bowed to the vizards. "I'm so sorry for intruding, I'm sure Grimmjaw was just...um...just a little worried about me, so that's why, he might have...um...done some stupid things..."

Yoruichi sighed inwardly. From what little information Ichigo had been able to tell Kisuke and her before they had reached the vizards hideout, she understood that this arrancar had a deep crush on the sixth Espada, but she hadn't realized how deep it was.

"Kisuke, my comrade, took him back to our shop," Yoruichi told Nell. "He's fine. I'm going to take you and that," she motioned with a disparaging flick of her hand towards Shirosaki, "thing back over to the shop."

Shirosaki grinned and made a weird salute towards Yoruichi. Nell breathed a sigh of relief and tried to take another step but crumpled to the floor.

"I wasn't able to fully heal you," Hachi spoke up. "Your wounds go beyond my technique. Perhaps the young girl named Inoue can help you."

Nell nodded and bowed her head. "Thank you so much."

"Thank the arrancar who brought you," Hachi said quietly before turning away. "He was the one who asked me to heal you."

Nell's heart skipped a beat. "I will," she answered.

Yoruichi shook her head before turning toward Kensei and Lisa who had helpfully brought in Ichigo. "I'll hold him now," she said as she unceremoniously flung Ichigo across her shoulder.

"You know, why don't I carry you? It'll make things easier for ya," Shirosaki asked Nell.

"Oh, yes, that would help me a lot!" Nell said happily, completely unaware of the strange grin that found its way to Shirosaki's face.

Shirosaki held out his hand, "Anything for you milady."

"Dude...he is so flirting with her," Lisa remarked to Mashiro and Kensei.

"Huh...disturbing...and yet at the same time you can't stop looking at them," Kensei replied.

"Yeah...so weird seeing Berry-tan's hollow act silly," Mashiro murmured.

Shirosaki cradled Nell in his arms and walked towards Yoruichi.

"Hrnggrh..."

"Say what?" Hirako asked.

The noise had come from Yoruichi, or to be more specific, it came from the semi-conscious orange haired boy slung across her shoulder.

Ichigo painfully raised his head and looked around. "Whuut?" His eyes focused on the strangely colored white and green blur in front of him. Why did it look like his hollow was carrying Nell?

"Oh God..." he said before closing his eyes.

"Glad to see me again King?" Shirosaki playfully asked.

"I'm ignoring you!" Ichigo yelled, his eyes still closed.

"But I'm still here!" Shirosaki yelled in a sing-songy voice.

"But I can pretend!" Ichigo yelled back in an equally annoying tone.

"Shut it the both of you and let's just go!" Yoruichi barked out.

"Thanks again," Nell said as they passed the vizards on their way out.

"Come back anytime!" Mashiro waved enthusiastically. She had decided that the new girl wasn't so bad. Besides, they had the same hair color, and that was an important factor.

"We're rooting for you Shirosaki!" Love and Rose called out.

"Are you playing a game against someone?" Nell asked Shirosaki.

"In a manner of speaking," he replied with a twinkle in his eyes.

"Bring back blue eyes so I can figure out if he's good enough for you," Hiyori called out. Hirako chuckled. The idea of Hiyori cross examining Grimmjaw was entertaining to say the least.

"And sorry for calling you a bitch!"

"Huh?"

"Okay bye now!" Hirako said quickly and waved good bye.

At last, one shinigami, one substitute shinigami, one hollow, and one arrancar were finally outside and walking towards the Urahara shop.

"Okay ground rules," Yoruichi spoke after a few moments has passed.

"One: you," she gestured toward Shirosaki, "are not allowed to be unsupervised at any time."

"Tch, whatever you say," he muttered.

"Two: you," this time she gestured toward Nell, "are also not allowed to be unsupervised at any time."

Ichigo was about to protest, but then thought better of it when he remembered the stories Urahara had told him about Yoruichi's wrath.

"The same goes for the damn Espada you brought back. Honestly, what were you _thinking_?" She shook her head.

"Don't get angry at Ichigo," Nell began. "He-"

"He was stupid. Plain and simple."

"He was just doing me a favor because-"

Yoruichi cut Nell off. "Look little girl, I don't care how much you think you're in love, but we now have _two_ arrancars that we have to take care of and we're not even sure if Aizen is going to send someone after you."

No one spoke after this until they reached the shop.

"I'm not too heavy right?" Nell asked Shirosaki.

"No, of course not! You're actually kind of light," Shirosaki quickly replied, remembering what Nell had done to Ichigo after his fight with Grimmjaw. He really didn't want to get hit down there, especially since he had his own body now.

Yoruichi let down Ichigo and opened the door where two small children greeted her.

"Welcome back Yoruichi-san," Ururu said politely.

"Hey, Ichigo! Is it true you kicked that Espada's ass? Is it? Is it?" This of course was Jinta and Ichigo could only nod his head before the hyperactive boy ran around him say how bad ass Ichigo was.

"Where's Kisuke, you little twerp?" inquired Yoruichi.

"He's with the others. Those friends of Ichigo are here too." Jinta and Ururu led them down the hallway to the room where everyone was.

"What? They know?" Ichigo gasped.

"That short haired girl was crying a lot and the two guys looked pretty shook up too." Jinta rattled on, unaware of the impact on Ichigo.

"And then these hollows showed up with this giant worm! It was awesome!"

"Was everyone unharmed?" Nell wasn't sure if anyone else had been attacked while crossing.

Jinta turned and stared at her. "Yeah, they were all fine. Orihime's healing everyone right now and so's Urahara."

They reached the door and slid it open.

A cacophony greeted them. A loud chorus of "Ichigo!" arose as they entered.

Tatsuki came first and proceeded to hit Ichigo on the head before gently hugging him. Keigo and Mizuiro also came to pat him on the back. Orihime and Urahara were in a corner making sure Chad and Rukia were alright; Pesshe and Dondo Chakker were happily assisting them (Ichigo assumed Bawa-bawa must be downstairs in the training room); Ishida was sitting down next to Renji. The two of them were keeping a close eye on Grimmjaw who looked out of place.

And then, at the same moment, the entire room noticed Shirosaki and Nell.

"Whoa..."

Orihime squeaked, turned around and mouthed "Oh my God" to Rukia.

No one spoke for a few moments until Shirosaki broke the silence. "Nice to meetcha all. You can call me Shirosaki. I'm Ichigo's hollow. As you can see, we kinda split."

"Oh, is that right?" Grimmjaw asked, glaring at him.

"Well, I don't know if it's right, but that's what happened," Shirosaki smartly replied with his grin.

Grimmjaw quietly growled.

"Welcome back Kurosaki-kun!" Urahara flounced over to the companions at the door. "Take a seat while we figure out our plan of action."

And with a flick of his fan, Urahara ushered them in. Shirosaki put Nell down, took a seat right next to Grimmjaw and smiled.

"Fuck off," Grimmjaw replied.

"What's wrong? Pissed off cuz I got to carry your scantily clad girlfriend over here?"

As if he didn't already hate Ichigo enough, now there was two of them, and one was a smart ass. Grimmjaw muttered some more obscenities under his breath. Shirosaki laughed and then turned around to see who else he could piss off.

"Grimmjaw."

The voice spoke so softly, no one except the one whom it was meant for heard it.

He looked around to see if anyone noticed him, but they were all preoccupied with other things. It seemed that Ishida and Renji were the new recipients of Shirosaki's humor, so no one noticed Grimmjaw scooting closer to Nell. He looked at her. "Yeah?"

She paused for a moment, collected her thoughts, and then blushed slightly. "Thank you."

And with that she gave him a hug.

Her tender embrace took him by surprise. He wasn't used to this kind of intimate behavior. He started to pull away at first, but he made the mistake of looking into her eyes. They begged him not to let go.

"Aw geez," he muttered. "You don't have to thank me," he whispered.

She only hugged him tighter. "You could have ran. But instead you took care of me."

"Who said I would run for it?" Grimmjaw asked Nell. She just shook her head and said nothing.

It was pathetically obvious, now that he thought about it. No one probably did say anything, but it lingered in the air. No one truly believed he would keep his promise. He sighed and with a start, realized that he liked her warm body next to him. And then something happened that even took Grimmjaw by surprise.

He hugged her back. "I'll never run away Nell," he murmured into her ear.

It was a sentimental moment, seeing the two together.

Well, sentimental for the readers who support their couple, but horrifying for others.

"When you guys are done..." an annoyed voice declared.

Somehow the entire room's attention had focused on the two "lovebirds" in the few seconds that had passed.

Both gave a nervous chuckle as they pulled away.

Ichigo had an odd look on his face, but got rid of it as he turned to Urahara. "So, what's the plan? You _do_ have a plan, right?"

Urahara tsked disapprovingly and flicked his fan at Ichigo. "Of course I do...at least, I _think_ I do."

"Please tell me you're kidding," Ichigo said, unsure if Urahara was joking.

"I do, I do. Calm down," Urahara replied in a flamboyant voice that didn't fit the situation at hand.

And so began the long discussion. It was decided that all the new friends Ichigo had picked up from Hueco Mundo were to stay at the shop for the time being. Urahara was also sure that he could find a way to put Ichigo back together again. "Like that egg!" Renji had joked, only to be quickly whacked on the head.

Nell's friends were going to stay in the underground training room, while Chad and Rukia were to be kept overnight so that Orihime could make sure their wounds healed. Renji would also stay and once again become the resident housekeeper.

Ishida was about to head home, but then thought against it when he thought about how his father would react.

"I'll help out Renji for a bit," he quickly interjected when it came his turn to speak.

Jinta giggled evily at the thought of bossing around two people, but Ishida didn't notice.

"We'll also keep an eye on...er... Shirosaki was it?" Urahara asked the other Ichigo.

"Yup!"

"Riiight then."

"And now onto the main problem at hand," Urahara said in a tone finally befitting of the situation.

A tense silence permeated the small room.

Urahara looked at Ichigo.

Ichigo looked at Grimmjaw.

Grimmjaw looked at Nell.

Nell looked at...a shiny object on the floor.

Grimmjaw cleared his throat. "Nell...did you...er...wanna say anything?"

Nell looked up quickly and noticed the others. "Oh...hehe...hi," she sheepishly grinned.

Urahara looked blankly at her. "What is your name?"

Nell looked surprised at the first question, but responded in a heartbeat. "My name is Neliel Tu Oderschvank. I am the former 3rd Espada."

Urahara nodded. "Anything you'd like to tell us about yourself?"

Nell closed her eyes, took a shaky deep breath and exhaled slowly. Although it wasn't blatantly apparent, she was extremely nervous. "I am not your enemy, I am a friend. As Ichigo may have told you I lost my memories and that is why I was unaware of my rank."

For a few seconds, the ticking of a clock somewhere in the shop was the only audible noise.

"I see," Urahara finally said. "What about you?" He addressed this Grimmjaw.

"The name's Grimmjaw Jaegerjaques. I am, or rather was the 6th Espada. I lost to Ichigo and that is how I came to meet Nell again."

"Grimmjaw tell me, "Urahara began, "why are you here?"

Grimmjaw paused a second too long. Urahara pounced on his hesitation.

"I only ask because out of all the new friends that Kurosaki-kun has brought back, the one that confuses me the most is you. I must tell you, it seems highly strange that you would follow the one who defeated you."

Once again the only sound was the clock.

"I am here because Nell asked me to...she requested-." Grimmjaw stumbled over his words.

"Do you mean to tell me," Urahara said darkly, "that you're here simply because of her?"

"Yes, yes that's why I'm here," Grimmjaw finally said. But as soon as the words left his lips they sounded so lame.

Urahara chuckled. "Grimmjaw, right now this shop is protected with more spells than you can imagine."

"Sorry, what?" Grimmjaw was confused by this turn in conversation.

"As soon as you leave a certain perimeter, you are no longer protected."

"Yeah, so?"

"What would you do if I refused to lodge you here?"

Nell opened her mouth to say something, but was silenced with a look from Urahara. "I await your answer Grimmjaw Jaegerjaques."

Everyone held their breath. Some looked afraid, others looked glad because they thought Grimmjaw was finally getting the kind of treatment he deserved.

Now it was Grimmjaw's turn to exhale slowly. "I don't care if I'm kicked out. I don't care if Aizen sends arrancar after me. I've taken care of myself before, I can do it again."

"Oh, really?" Urahara chuckled.

"As long as I can still see her."

"What?" Now Urahara looked surprised at the turn of the conversation.

"I didn't come here for protection or to run away from Aizen. I came here because of Nell. I promised her...I promised that I'd give her a chance. As I told Ichigo, we couldn't survive in Hueco Mundo, being so close to Las Noches. I intend to keep my promise, at all costs."

Urahara rapidly opened and closed his fan. "I suppose you think you know what relationships are all about?"

Rukia chuckled softly in her corner.

Grimmjaw grinned, remembering his conversation with the raven haired shinigami.

"Hell no! I've never been in one, and I sure didn't think I'd _ever_ be in one." He paused, and closed his eyes. "When I met Nell again, I was a totally different person. I...I've grown...attached to her. I was scared for her life when Ulquiorra practically killed her." He opened his eyes. "I've never felt that way for anyone."

Nell trembled a little and held her hands tightly.

"Urahara, you can kick me out. But I'm just gonna find a way to get back in and see her."

Ichigo was amazed. Since when did Grimmjaw give a shit about anyone except himself? And since when did he speak for more than two sentences?!

"Well then, " Urahara said menacingly. "No choice but to keep you!" he said with a giggle.

"Say what?" Grimmjaw looked confused.

"Hahaha, ah, my apologies. I just had to see if you really did come because of her," Urahara explained.

"You-you mean that was just...an act?" Grimmjaw said in disbelief.

"Well, I can't just let the former 6th Espada stay in my shop without questioning him now can I?"

"I know I should be feeling relief right now, but I'm still confused," Grimmjaw confessed.

"It'll pass," Urahara replied in a cheerful tone.

"So, first off, you two can pick your rooms. However I warn you that I will not tolerate any hippity-dippity in my shop."

Ichigo choked.

"WHAT?" he yelled.

"Oh surely you know what I mean," Urahara continued on, inwardly laughing at the red faces of Ichigo and Grimmjaw.

"What's the hippity-dippity, Ichigo?" Nell innocently asked.

"It's erm...what uh...well, you remember what Nnoitra...no wait, you don't want to remember that..."

"Oh, is that all," Nell said as realization dawned on her face.

"Haha, don't worry," she said and grabbed Grimmjaw's arm. "We're not that close...yet."

"YET?!" Ichigo exclaimed.

"Okay, time to go!" Urahara yelled over him. "Ishida-kun, may I ask a favor of you?"

"Sure Urahara-san, what is it that you need?" Ishida was a tad bit surprised.

"Actually, it's more of what _she_ needs. Can you fit Neliel-san with some new clothes? I'm afraid we don't have an extensive women's wardrobe here at the shop."

"Of-of course," Ishida replied.

"I don't want to tell you my measurements!" Nell squeaked. "Can I tell Grimmjaw so he can tell you?"

"I don't want to know them either!" Grimmjaw yelled at her.

Ishida turned red. "Um...well...you know, I can just-"

"I can tell you Ishida!" Pesshe waved his hand.

"Ah, that's right!" Nell happily said to Ishida. "He was the one in charge of my clothes when I was an Espada!"

Ishida looked extremely relieved.

Slowly but surely the room was emptied as everyone said their good-byes.

Finally Urahara was left with Shirosaki, Nell, and Grimmjaw.

Shirosaki tried to pick a room next to Nell, but was stopped by a pissed off Grimmjaw.

"Tch, fine," he finally relented and took one near the back of the shop.

Grimmjaw chose one that looked big enough and looked at Nell, who had chosen a room just across the hallway from his.

"Good night," he said and gave her a quick hug.

"Sleep tight everyone," Urahara called out. The lights had been turned off, so his voice eerily floated above them in the darkness.

"Night," Nell and Grimmjaw called back.

"You're gonna need a good night's rest for what's in store this week."

"What's happening this week?" Grimmjaw asked, but had a sinking feeling in his stomach.

"Why Grimmjaw, surely you must know what's coming next. You're going to go on your first date with Neliel-san!"

Nell jumped up and down and hugged Grimmjaw. "Isn't that awesome Grimmjaw?!"

"I'M GOING ON A WHAT?!"

* * *

(1)- For those of you who aren't Japanese inclined, the first kanji for Ichigo's last name, _kuro_ means black. _Shiro _means white, so it would naturally make sense to call him _Shiro_saki cuz he's white…and that's all the Japanese I'll teach you cuz it is or almost will be winter break and I'm sure you don't want to learn any more than necessary! 

Hallelujah! I actually was able to write this chapter down!

-stares at word count- How'd it come out that long?!

I had four finals on one day!!! FOUR!! ON ONE DAY!!! I was at school from 8 am to 6 pm!!!!

And then my wisdom teeth got taken out! My jaw still hurts…

So...it really is a miracle I updated in December...I would promise you the next chapter this month...but I can't control my schedule. So sorry.

Have a good winter break everyone!

Random Omakes!

Me:-reading the fight between Byakuya and the 7th Espada- Hahaha, he looks like a pumpkin! Come on Byakuya! Kick his ass and make us some pumpkin pie!

Jolina: We'll need a fork or something to eat it.

Me: -thinks- SPOONY!

Nnoitra: -somewhere in Las Noches- Why do I get the feeling someone just compared me to a utensil?

--

Nell: -on the internet- Hey Grimmjaw! Look, you're a lolcat!

Grimmjaw: FTW? I can has cheezburger?

--

Me: -on the phone with Jolina- -gasp- Grimmjaw's a panther!! That means he's like our class mascot! We should get a picture of him and put "06 for life" on it!

Jo: Mel…are you high? Cuz that was random, even for you.

Me: -glares at phone- No, I'm not.

Go readers, digivolve into...REVIEWERS!!


	8. La Kebradita

So…heh heh…-bows- I'm sorry it took so long to post this chapter! It's been nearly done for a month…

So without any delay, here's the "date!" And I have a happy announcement at the end!

Disclaimer: Me owning Bleach means that the world is going to end…no wait…that's not good…

* * *

The first rays of dawn woke Grimmjaw up, much to his chagrin. Honestly, he would have liked to have slept a bit longer, but some smart person didn't bother to put curtains on the window. Thus, Mr. Sunshine happily woke him up.

There was a brief moment of confusion because he thought he was still in his own room back in Hueco Mundo. Then reality finished slapping him awake. Once that initial shock was over, the "other" shock nagged him in the back of his mind; the idea of having to go on a "date" still hadn't quite registered with him.

On one hand, he didn't have much to lose. Dignity and pride were like lost brothers that he had yet to find again. A date wouldn't make much of a difference in an area that was already in the negative. He had vaguely heard of these "dates" from other arrancar that spent more time learning about humans. From what he could remember, these "dates" didn't sound that much fun. Then again, anything that didn't involve someone getting maimed in three minutes wasn't even up for consideration on his "Top 10".

He sighed and tried to focus on how he was going to adapt to living in the real world. For one thing, he had to get used to living like a prisoner. He wouldn't have the freedom like at Las Noches. Even when he was out of commission for the short time that he didn't have his arm, he still had freedom. But now it was gone. And from the looks of things, he was going to have to bust his ass to get the slightest bit of trust.

He sighed again, and to his embarrassment, his thoughts turned to Nell. Random thoughts flew about. He mused on whether or not she was healing alright. And deep within him, so deep it was still in his unconscious mind, he wondered if she was scarred forever because of what Nnoitra had done to her.

Almost immediately, a mental image popped into his head. It was like an out of body experience. He saw himself, arms wrapped around Nell, hugging her tightly. He nearly screamed out loud at the mere thought, and cursed whatever God that had put it into his head. He was about to toss and turn over when he felt a strange sensation. It was the sensation of a warm body next to him.

_Crap...don't tell me she..._

Yup. Much to Grimmjaw's dismay, Nell had somehow snuck into his room at night. He probably didn't notice because he had slept like a log. Slowly, he turned to look at her and then immediately wished he hadn't.

She looked angelic. There was no other word for it. The same rays of light that he cursed made her look like an angel. Her hair fell about her shoulders and the faintest smile played on her lips. At the same time (probably due to the fact that she still had her scantily clad clothes), she looked undeniably hot.

Grimmjaw closed his eyes, trying very hard to think of a way to quietly get her up and out of his room. The most obvious solution came to mind. He looked her over and then poked her shoulder very hard.

Nell did nothing. Not a twitch. Nada.

Grimmjaw cleared his throat and shook her shoulder gently.

Once again, nothing.

Grimmjaw swore under his breath and then shook her shoulder very hard. "Nell," he said loudly and firmly.

"Hnnrrgh," came her reply. She stretched out her arms and then opened her eyes.

"Grimmjaw!" she squealed and promptly flung her arms around his neck and proceeded to choke (hug) him.

This resulted in a sudden struggle. Grimmjaw tried in vain to break away, but all it did was cause Nell to grip him harder. He tried to get up but fell back down...on top of her.

_Please don't let anyone slide open the door right now_.

"My, my, my, this is a compromising position," a playful voice rang out.

"Shirosaki," Grimmjaw snarled.

"Morning t'you too," Shirosaki grinned back. "Morning Nell-chan!"

"Good morning Shirosaki-kun, did you sleep well?" Nell cheerfully inquired.

"Oh yes, I did. Nice right happy dreams I had," he replied with a twinkle in his eyes.

Grimmjaw snorted.

"Well, I shouldn't be the one talking I suppose," Shirosaki continued and then turned his head.

"Hey King! They're up already! And they decided to consummate their love! I had nothing to do with it!"

And with that, he smiled at the happy couple and walked away.

"I'm...going...to _kill_ that bastard," Grimmjaw hissed through clenched teeth.

_Poke, poke, poke_.

Grimmjaw looked at his arm...which was currently being poked by his "angel."

"Ne, Grimmjaw, what's consummate mean?" Nell asked.

He didn't have time to reply, because Ichigo had appeared in the doorway.

He looked at the two on the floor. It really was quite a sight.

"Was I...interrupting...something?" he finally managed to get out.

"No, no you weren't," Grimmjaw somehow managed to say even though Nell's arms were still wrapped tightly around his neck.

Nell, of course, was oblivious to all of this.

"What were you two doing?" Ichigo addressed this question to Nell.

"I slept with him!" Nell cheerfully replied.

Grimmjaw mentally hit his head against a very hard wall. "Nell...that phrase has a deeper meaning that you're unaware of."

He turned toward Ichigo. "She came during the night while I was asleep. She was sleeping _next _to me." He made sure to emphasize the word next very slowly and carefully. "Neeeext to me."

Ichigo closed his eyes and appeared to be silently counting to ten.

Grimmjaw did not take that to be a good sign.

"Why don't you go back to your room Nell and get changed?" Grimmjaw asked, trying to diplomatically get her out of his room...as soon as possible. The sooner she got out, the sooner he would stop feeling so awkward...hopefully.

"Okay!" Nell quickly through him off her like a sack of potatoes and skipped out.

For the first time since meeting Nell, Grimmjaw wondered what she would have turned out like if she hadn't have met Ichigo. Would she still be that energetic? Would she be that...cute?

"So, breakfast is gonna be up in half an hour," Ichigo said randomly.

"Oh, yeah, great," Grimmjaw replied.

Awkward silence.

"I hear Ururu and Jinta make a good French toast," Ichigo stated, still speaking of inane subjects.

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Fancy that."

"Uh huh, go figure."

"..."

"..."

"I'm gonna get changed," Grimmjaw finally said and broke the spell.

"Oh, okay," and Ichigo closed the door.

And thus ended the first morning.

- - - - - - - - - -

After being shown where the baths and showers were, Grimmjaw showed up at the appointed room for breakfast.

Not surprisingly, the room was as loud as last night.

Ichigo and Ishida were sitting next to each other, not because they had stopped annoying each other, but because no one else seemed sane in the room. Nell's friends were somehow eating next to Nell, and on the other side of Nell was Shirosaki. He wasn't eating anything, but apparently he didn't seem to care as long as he was sitting next to her.

Orihime was nowhere to be found, but that wasn't a surprise seeing as how she was most likely tending to Chad and Rukia.

Urahara, Yoruichi, Jinta, and Ururu were on the other side of the table and all were happily digging into the food.

Grimmjaw took a seat near Urahara and looked at the food.

The food looked back at him.

Nothing looked particularly appetizing.

He looked around, and seeing that even Nell was eating, he inwardly sighed and took a helping of whatever this "French toast" was in front of him.

After they were finished, Nell helped Jinta and Ururu clean up.

_At least her wounds must be healed_ Grimmjaw thought and then noticed Urahara smiling at him.

Wait...smiling?

That couldn't be good.

"So, Grimmjaw-kun, have you thought about when your date with Neliel-san should be?"

Perhaps Urahara was right in bringing up the subject after breakfast, because Ichigo nearly choked on his spit.

"Their _WHAT_?!"

Grimmjaw cleared his throat and hesitantly replied, "Yes."

"We're all ears!" Urahara said with a joyful snap of his fan.

"Well, "Grimmjaw was painfully aware of the death glare he was receiving from Ichigo. "I suppose a nice dinner would be good. Isn't that what dates are about?"

"You tell me Grimmjaw-kun," Urahara flounced back. "It's not me who's going on it."

"Wait," Ichigo interrupted, "you tell us to keep the two in sight and now you want them alone?"

Urahara rolled his eyes. "Of course they're not going to be alone," he said matter of factly.

"Oh good."

"You'll be with them."

"He'll be what?!"

"I'll be what?!"

"I don't want Ichigo to be a third wheel!"

The three men stared at Nell, who looked very distraught.

Urahara smiled gently at the former third Espada. "Don't worry; we'll make sure Ichigo has a date as well!"

"Like hell you will!" Ichigo yelled.

"Oh that would be great!" Nell grinned. "He should take Rukia."

Grimmjaw snorted as Ichigo turned the same color as a certain fruit he was associated with.

"Th-that's n-not- wh-who said-?" Ichigo stuttered out.

"But Ichigo you were all worried about her back in Hueco Mundo," Nell tried to explain.

"That's not the point!" he yelled back.

"What's this about me being a random date?" a voice inquisitively asked.

All heads turned toward the door where the voice emanated.

Rukia was being brought in by Orihime.

"Nothing," Ichigo tried to lie.

"Rukia, can you be Ichigo's date so Grimmjaw and I can go on our date?" Nell politely asked, straight to the point.

The raven haired shinigami closed her eyes and also seemed to be inwardly counting to ten. Must be a passing fad.

"Are you kidding me?" she finally replied as she opened her eyes. "I can barely stand him for short periods of time."

Ichigo looked slightly relieved, but then his expression turned to annoyance when he realized he had been insulted.

Nell's expression fell faster than Rukia being torn away from bunnies.

"Oh," she said quietly.

Rukia looked at Nell and then sighed. "Buuut...if it really means that much to you, I suppose I could-"

Nell hugged/choked Rukia before she could finish her sentence.

"Thankyouthankyouthankyou!"

Rukia made a noise that could pass for a "you're welcome," and then untangled herself from Nell.

"You owe me bunnies," she said to Ichigo. "LOTS of bunnies."

Ichigo rolled his eyes and turned to Urahara. "Is this the only way? I'm gonna feel awkward on a...a...double date." He finally relented and said the dreaded words with a shudder.

"What if Ishida and I go with you?"

More heads turned toward this voice.

"You're going out with four eyes?" Grimmjaw asked incredulously.

For once, everyone agreed with him.

Orihime laughed and shook her head. "We're not going out like boyfriend and girlfriend...yet. He just asked me out last night, that's all," and then she smiled her characteristic grin. "This way it just looks like six friends going out for dinner! Granted, there's exactly three girls and three guys, but who cares!"

Ichigo shook his head as if trying to shake out whatever thoughts were flying in his mind. "Whatever, just tell me the night and we'll figure it out," he said exasperatedly while walking out of the room.

And that is how a triple date involving humans, a Quincy, shinigami, and arrancar was created.

- - - - - - - - -

The actual date didn't happen until later in the week. Urahara made Grimmjaw do odd jobs around the shop in order to save up money for the date. Overall he was quite happy to have more slave labor...err..."hired help" around the shop. Ishida eventually went home, but wouldn't tell anyone what transpired once he caught up with his father.

Strange as it was, life returned to a normal pace. Well, as normal as it could get with a looming war with the forces of evil and a triple date in the near future. It was a bit hard to figure out which event scared our characters more.

Finally, after the cleaning of many floors and the unloading of many boxes, Grimmjaw was deemed to have saved up enough money to take out his bonnie lass.

Renji and Grimmjaw actually made a good team cleaning up the shop. The only snag was when Renji tried to turn on the vacuum cleaner while Grimmjaw was in the same room.

_Flashback_

_Renji stared at Grimmjaw who had crawled into a corner. _

_"Shut that thing off!" Grimmjaw hissed._

_"Dude, it's just a vacuum cleaner," Renji yelled over the noise of the machine._

_"I don't care, I can't stand that sound!"_

_He then ran out of the room as if running for his very life._

_"You really are a cat," Renji muttered._

_End Flashback_

Other than that, everything turned out well. As well, Ishida had been working on some clothes for Nell and was very pleased with his effort. She now had a pair of jeans and some shirts to wear. He had tried giving her a dress, but for some reason she didn't like it as much. Pesshe had to explain that as an Espada she was used to wearing pants. Ishida just filed it under "odd things about Nell-san."

The details now had to be worked out. The night was decided, as was the restaurant. The only thing left was to actually go.

Which was a lot harder than expected.

On the day of, Ishida was still making the final adjustments to Nell's outfit. He had convinced her to wear a skirt and now Orihime and Rukia were fixing her hair. Grimmjaw didn't really understand why they all kept dressing up, as it was just a dinner to him, but hey, when in Rome...

It was late in the afternoon and he was suddenly informed that Orihime was up to something, along with Rukia. "Don't worry!" they said in reply to his doubtful looks.

As it was, the two had the bright idea of straightening Nell's hair and now they were finished.

Orihime marveled at her handiwork. Nell's hair was now as straight as...err...well it was REALLY straight. Not a trace of her curls remained.

She called in Grimmjaw from the hallway.

"See?" she said proudly. "Didn't I tell you I would do a good job?"

Grimmjaw had to agree. It didn't look like a half ass job in fact.

He went up to Nell and then slowly ran his hand down her hair. It was softer than the finest sands of Hueco Mundo. He lightly pondered its beauty, while Nell gave him a big hug. "You sure like it," she said with a giggle.

"Yeah, it's nice," he murmured and, without realizing it, Grimmjaw kept running his hand through her hair.

Rukia and Orihime were astounded.

"Well, you know," he tried to say nonchalantly after noticing the stares from the three girls, "it's just so soft...and...I'm just gonna shut up now."

Rukia and Orihime tried very hard to hold back their giggles.

"Nell, are you ready for your outfit?" Ishida called from the other room.

"Almost!" Nell replied. "I'll come over as soon as Grimmjaw's done petting me!"

Ah...the delightful ignorance of certain connotations of words always emulated by our favorite ex-Espada.

"Uhhhh...you DO realize Kurosaki-kun is standing right next to me, right?" Ishida awkwardly choked out.

Instantly, Rukia and Orihime were laughing so hard they were leaning against each other to stay standing.

"HER HAIR DAMMIT!" Grimmjaw yelled with all his might. "HER HAIR! I WAS PETTING-I MEAN TOUCHING HER HAIR!"

He glared at the two giggling girls. "And get your minds outta the gutter!"

Rukia turned to Orihime, "Y'know, I thought Ichigo was lying when he told me about how Nell messes up words, but now that we saw it in person, it's even funnier!"

Orihime could only nod in assent, because formulating words in her state was impossible.

Nell smiled at Grimmjaw and then went out to meet Ishida.

Seeing as how he didn't want to be stuck in a room where his pride was decreasing by the second, Grimmjaw walked outside and down a different hallway. Nell's outfit reminded him that he had his own "special" clothes to put on. Come to think of it, why wasn't Shirosaki around? He normally would pop up now and then just to flirt with Nell.

He rounded a corner and something in the corner of his eye caught his attention. He backtracked a few steps and peered through the slit of a slightly opened door.

He couldn't believe his eyes. Shirosaki was propped up on some pillows and for once, he didn't have his normal expression. He looked, without a doubt, sick.

Shirosaki squinted through the doorway and then sighed. "You can come in, I'm not contagious or anythin'."

Grimmjaw reluctantly slid open the door and paused just beyond the doorway.

Shirosaki grimaced and then gave a strange grin. "I'm just reverting back, that's all. Apparently it's a lot more painful than comin' out though," he said with a pained expression.

Grimmjaw didn't speak, after all, this rather unique situation, there wasn't much one could say that would be of comfort.

"Are you guys gettin' ready for yer date?" Shirosaki asked quietly.

"Yeah, the girls just finished doing Nell's hair and Ishida has her outfit ready," he tried to say objectively.

"Good, that's good," Shirosaki replied. His expression had now changed to one of slight longing. "So she looks nice..."

"I'm sure tomorrow she'll come to tell you how it went-"

"I'm probably not gonna be here."

"Oh...that soon?" Grimmjaw asked.

"Yeah," Shirosaki sighed. "Probably late tonight, according to Mr. Hat and Clogs."

A few moments of silence passed between the two.

"I'd better get changed," Grimmjaw finally said and turned back toward the doorway.

"She's happy with you, right?"

The question seemed to hang in the air for an ungodly amount of time.

"She chose me," Grimmjaw finally replied. "So she must be."

"And you'll treat her alright?"

Grimmjaw did a quick about face, but Shirosaki wasn't implying anything. "Just checking," he murmured.

Then he looked Grimmjaw straight in the eyes. "Be careful. You've still got that bloodlust in you, just like me. Make sure it doesn't spill out too much." His voice was dead serious.

Grimmjaw shook his head. "I won't let it-"

"It'll get in the way. Trust me," Shirosaki interrupted. "And it _will_ spill out, because you can never get rid of it. All you can do is make sure you don't mess up too badly."

Grimmjaw understood what he was saying. A nagging part of him knew it was true. He looked Shirosaki straight in the eyes as well. "Thanks for the advice."

He turned and walked out.  
"Don't tell her how I am!"

There was only a second of hesitation before he answered. "I won't," Grimmjaw promised as he walked down the hallway to his room.

He sighed and he put on his clothes for the occasion; it was a simple suit that wasn't too formal, but it still felt a bit odd. Finding everything in order and making sure he had money in his pocket, Grimmjaw slid open the door only to nearly crash into another person.

Grimmjaw stared at the strange object in the man's hands. "What is that for?"

The person just smiled back.

- - - - - - - - -

Nell looked at her reflection in the mirror Ishida had brought into the room. "You did a great job Ishida, thanks!"

Ishida tried to keep his characteristic coolness, but was slightly failing with the smug look in his eyes. "It was nothing," he humbly replied, while inwardly soaking in the praise.

Nell's outfit consisted of a cute chocolate brown vest over a long sleeved pale blue shirt. The cuffs had buttons emblazoned with the Quincy cross.

("Couldn't help it," Ishida confessed to a disgruntled Ichigo.)

The bottom consisted of a dark blue skirt that stopped just below her knees. Ishida had also taken the time to ask Orihime to buy some shoes, so Nell sported a pair of brown boots. The final touch was the large beret matching the same color as her skirt. She wore it in order to hide the remnants of her mask. (A/N- if you want a picture go to MauveFlames' gallery on DeviantArt, she let me borrow the outfit!)

Orihime was about to compliment Nell when the door slid open and in walked Urahara and Grimmjaw. The latter wore a strange expression, but it was wiped away almost immediately when he glanced at Nell.

"You, uh, look really...really nice Neliel," Grimmjaw finally managed to say, but wondered why he couldn't seem to come up with better adjectives whenever he was around her.

She merely smiled in agreement and gave him a quick hug before going over to help Orihime with her outfit.

"Where'd the remnants of your mask go?" Ishida asked in amazement.

Grimmjaw looked confused for a moment, but then replied, "Urahara did something to it. He figured it wouldn't be good if we scare half the people who see us."

This explanation seemed to please Ichigo and Ishida. Rukia joined up with Orihime and Nell; soon enough the entire gang was ready.

Urahara and the others stood in the doorway and waved goodbye.

"Don't do anything I wouldn't do!" Urahara happily said and waved his fan a bit harder than Grimmjaw would have liked. Nell's friends were also there, crying. "She's grown up so fast!" Pesshe bawled.

The six of them didn't have to travel too far. About ten minutes and a couple of turns later, they faced a small restaurant. Let's call it "Moo Moo's Cafe" because the authoress is tired and cannot make up thought provoking names off the top of her head.

They walked in and were immediately greeted by a hostess.

"Hello! Are there only six in your party?" The girl had shoulder length hair that was slightly curly with dark purple streaks. Her name tag said "Moo."

Everyone looked at Grimmjaw, who was the unofficial leader of this "date."

When he nodded, the girl smiled again. "Since it's not a busy night, you guys can pick anywhere in the restaurant to sit." She brought out six menus and led them to the main room. After they picked their seats she politely placed their menus on the table and took down their drink orders.

She was about to leave when she noticed Rukia's necklace. "That's such a cute bunny necklace!" she exclaimed.

Rukia blushed slightly. "Thank you!"

"You should head over to our little game in the corner," the girl continued. "We have that 'try and grab the prize with the claw' over there. I'm pretty sure I saw a couple of bunnies!" She turned and called out to the other girl working. "Jo! Order in! I got three Arnold Palmers, two waters, and one coffee!"

News of this "game" made Ichigo wanted to bang his head against the table, while Grimmjaw and Ishida quietly snickered behind their menus.

Rukia slowly turned toward Ichigo.

Ichigo slowly turned his head and met her gaze.

Without another word he simply got up, walked over to the game and took out his quarters (or whatever yen amount they use in Japan o.O). Rukia happily skipped behind him.

Their drinks had come and Ichigo still hadn't gotten anything.

"So he can destroy hollows and rescue friends from evil ex-shinigami overlords, but he can't-" Grimmjaw started.

"Even get a stuffed bunny," Ishida finished.

"He gets an A for effort though," Nell said to no one in particular, but was also grinning.

The other four used this time to talk amongst themselves.

"I'm glad you didn't freak out about the date," Nell began.

This was not the conversation opener Grimmjaw had been expecting. He had been expecting simple things like, "Nice weather we're having" or even "Did you think the 8th Espada was a girl the first time you saw him too?" Simple conversation openers.

"It's just a date. I mean, we were probably gonna go on one by ourselves anyway," he replied.

Nell gazed at Rukia who was currently using Ichigo's head to try and break the glass containing the stuffed animals.

"It's just..." she paused and started to twist her napkin. "I get scared sometimes that you might, y'know, regret going out with me because you've had to change so much."

Grimmjaw pondered on this statement. It was true he was drastically different from when he had first met Ichigo, and Shirosaki's words echoed in his mind. He looked at Ichigo yelling at Rukia about not using his head as a battering ram before turning to Nell.

"Don't over think things," he said and squeezed her hand. "Believe me, you'll only drive yourself deeper into a hole. Just trust me...I won't be some asshole who's gonna leave you. We'll take things one day at a time."

Nell looked calmer after hearing this and scooted closer to him. Grimmjaw wished she wouldn't. Every time he looked too long at her or was next to her for too long, he got this strange sensation in his stomach. It was the same sensation he felt when he saw her fall from Ulquiorra's blow and it was the same sensation he felt when he first hugged her. A little voice in the back of his mind told him that what he was feeling was a four letter word that rhymed with shove, but all he wanted to do was shove that voice down the crapper.

This of course did nothing to make him less nervous. He was about to politely tell her to please move over when she gave him a peck on the cheek that brushed a bit too close to his lips.

Grimmjaw used to be good at covering up his emotions. All he had to do was act angry and badass, and he was okay. However...right now he was feeling very hot and embarrassed. Orihime and Ishida were too busy talking to notice so he had enough time to recover. He was about to jump up under the false pretense of having the use the restroom but another waitress had come to take down their food orders. This one had a small flame embroidered on her shirt. She smiled and for some reason a hint of maliciousness showed through.

They called over Ichigo and Rukia who had a stuffed penguin to show for lost quarters and a badly bruised head.

Rukia was slightly cross with Ichigo, but the waitress looked surprisingly happy.

"Do you want that?" she asked after taking their orders and pointed to the penguin.

"No, honestly I would rather have the bunny," Rukia replied with a tear in her eye.

The waitress still had her eyes on the penguin and then called out, "Mel! Do you still have the bunny that the Beatles wannabe boy won you last night cuz you were all flirting and shit?!"

A frantic voice answered from the kitchen, "Yes! And we weren't flirting!"

Their waitress tched and then yelled back, "Whatever makes you happy!"

Mel came storming through and snatched the food orders from the waitress. "Order in! And I wasn't-"

"Flirting? Yes of course you weren't, you were just freaking all over him-"

"Would you shut up already?!"

The triple date party was pleasantly surprised to get a dinner and entertainment.

Mel went back into the kitchen, gave the order to the cook, and then came back with the bunny. She punched Jo as she handed it to Rukia who gasped with delight.

"You're trading it after all I went through to get it?!" Ichigo yelled.

Jo stared at him. "I'll give you 30 off the entire bill."

"No complaints!" Grimmjaw yelled and handed the penguin to Jo.

She squealed, gave it three quick squeezes, and then ran off to the kitchen.

"Refills anyone?" Mel asked, unfazed.

"No, we're good," were most of the sweatdropped replies.

Mel trotted off into the kitchen as well.

As usual, silence enveloped our characters.

"So..." Grimmjaw started when he couldn't take it any longer, "who else thought the 8th Espada was a girl the first time they saw him?"

This was actually a nice icebreaker and soon enough their food came.

"Enjoy the food!" Mel said.

Jo was too busy holding her penguin in one hand and balancing plates on the other to say anything more.

"What she said," Jo said as she walked away from their table.

The dinner actually went quite well.

As long as you didn't count the time Grimmjaw's drink missed his mouth by inches because he was distracted by Nell's smile and Ichigo's consequent rolling eyes.

Also, as long as you didn't count the time Rukia, Orihime, and Nell had the bright idea of trying to see how fast they could eat their spaghetti and consequently sprayed tomato sauce over their dates.

But other than that, it was a good dinner.

Jo took away their plates while Mel asked them about dessert.

Rukia stared at Ichigo when she learned they had strawberry cheesecake.

"Yes...we'll have dessert," Ichigo said with a sigh after Grimmjaw checked to see if enough money was left.

Afterwards, Orihime tried to start up a conversation, but Ichigo didn't contribute much to the conversation. She didn't want to admit it, but he was being a little childish, all because he noticed Nell and Grimmjaw being close to each other.

This called for action. Orihime glanced at Rukia, who had also figured out the problem.

"Nell! Will you accompany to the restroom!" Rukia yelled while pushing Ichigo out of her way.

"I think I need to go too!" Orihime yelled. "I need to uh...powder my nose!"

Nell was utterly confused, but got yanked away and the three sped away to the restroom.

"What...just happened?" Grimmjaw asked, but Ishida was quick on the uptake.

"How's it going so far for you?" he asked Grimmjaw.

"Pretty g-wait where did that come from?!" Grimmjaw yelled.

Ishida turned toward Ichigo.

"What are you looking at me for?" the strawberry defensively said.

Meanwhile...

"So how's it going so far?" Orihime and Rukia asked Nell.

"Um...pretty good...is there a reason why you guys are so close to me?" Nell asked timidly.

Orihime and Rukia quickly took two steps backward from her, allowing some breathing room.

"Well?" Rukia asked.

Nell blinked. "Well what?!"

But even she had a good gut feeling about what they wanted to know.

Meanwhile...

Jo and Mel stood nearby in the kitchen.

"So how's it going?" Mel asked as soon as she had finished washing the dishes.

"Dunno, looks kinda fudged up," Jo replied as she made the strawberry cheesecakes.

"The cheesecakes or the date?"

"Both."

"Great..."

Mel dried her hands and looked at the desserts. "Aw, it's not that bad," she comfortingly said.

She took a quick look at the table, and then toward the restroom.

"And they seem to be doing well..."

"Tch, whatever. Stupid strawberry..."

Mel was about to comment back when both girls paused.

"Is that..." Jo trailed off.

Mel gave a strangled sigh. "I'll see to it."

The three at the table were too busy talking to notice Mel look outside apprehensively and then close the curtains. She nodded to Jo, who immediately went and turned on some music, but a bit louder than normal.

By this time, the others had noticed it as well.

"Anything wrong?" Ishida asked Mel politely.

"Oh nothing!" she replied.

"Then why'd you lock the door," Ichigo murmured.

--

"_This _is the place he's at?" an incredulous voice asked.

"Sheesh, he wasn't even gone that long and his standards have gone down this much?" another voice drawled.

"I guess we just have to take it upon ourselves to remind him," a third voice gleefully replied.

The three figures stayed near the shadows as the moon's light reflected off the remnants of their masks.

"Thought we'd let you get away that easily?"

* * *

Song is from Instituto Mexicano del Sonido aka Mexican Institute of Sound. Maaan, it took sooo long editing this! But a BIG thanks to those who kept reviewing and such! It really does help, I can't say it enough…

Oh, and my announcement is that I got into the study abroad program at my school! (Blame the paperwork for stealing my energy to write and edit.)

So starting September, I will be in Tokyo, Japan at a university!! Woot woot!

And now for some random omakes.

Me: - explaining Bleach manga to her dad- Kenpachi's a beast. He's one of those guys who the good guys hate, but since he's on their side, they don't mind.

Dad: Oh, so it's like: He may be a bastard, but he's _our_ bastard.

Me: Yeah! Like that!

Dad: Hmm…that happens a lot in politics.

Me: -random image pops up in head- "KENPACHI FOR PRESIDENT 'O8" –cough- zomg…

--

-at Moo Moo's café-

Nell: I'm craving frijoles, how about you Grimmy?

Grimmjaw: Yeah, I wonder if these are made as good as Hueco Mundo's.

Ichigo: Free what hoe now?

Nell and Grimmy: -blank stare-

Grimmjaw : Friiiijooooleees. They're beans, that's all.

Ichigo: Riiight…

Grimmjaw: Not my problem you weren't educated enough in the Spanish language.


	9. The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys

Disclaimer: If I owned Bleach, do you think I'd be fretting over how to pay for my college education now that California has officially screwed over the state university system?

Grimmjaw: Aren't you even gonna apologize for updating so late?

Me: The true good people will understand that life gets in the way sometimes.

Grimmjaw: Lame.

Me: Yer MOM is lame!

Dedication: To my lovely grandma and grand-auntie who gave me the money needed to study abroad in Japan. I hope they're happily living it up in the good part of Rukongai.

Renji: Well to be honest, there's no way you can really choose-

Me: The- ::glare:: Best-Place-In-Rukongai…EVER!

Renji: EEEP! Yes! They are!

Me: ::smile:: good!

Enjoy!

* * *

"If you had just a minute to breathe.

And they granted you one final wish.

Would you ask for something

like another chance?"

~"Low Spark of High Heeled Boys" by Traffic

* * *

Funny how the streets seemed lonely tonight. Grimmjaw hadn't been in the human world for that long but even this part of Tokyo where Ichigo lived should have been slightly alive. It was never too late for _someone_ to be out, right?

Instead, the only noise came from an empty can being tossed around by the invisible wind.

He really didn't want it to end like this. But becoming the person Nell needed was like trying to grab the dying rays of sunlight.

Impossible.

_5 hours earlier_

_{}{}{}{}{  
_

As soon as Grimmjaw sensed them he immediately excused himself from the table, a seemingly impossible task since Ishida could barely restrain Ichigo as he yelled at Grimmjaw to come back.

"Cool it Kurosaki," Ishida said, whacking the strawberry's head. He then glanced at the kitchen, wondering where the cafe proprietors were.

"I'm not gonna sit here while-"

"It's not your problem!" Ishida yelled.

Ichigo's face did a complete 180, going from pure anger to pure confusion. Since when did Ishida lose his cool?

The Quincy quickly took a deep breath and collected himself. It was beneath him to act as brash as Ichigo; he didn't want it to happen again.

"This is something he needs to do by himself," Ishida continued after rolling his eyes at Ichigo's expression. Granted, at first Ishida didn't trust Grimmjaw, but he had proven to be trustworthy so far. Ishida was brought out of his thoughts by a demanding voice.

"But what if he goes back with them?"

Ishida's eyes narrowed. Anyone who didn't know the reserved boy would have taken him to be slightly annoyed by this question. But if you did know him...

Ishida took a deep breath to calm his anger. "Kurosaki, I'm going to pretend I didn't hear you." He ignored Ichigo's attempts to speak and continued. "How dare you even ask that. Don't tell me you've forgotten the reason why he came."

"That's what I'm saying!" Ichigo spat out. "I've never really wanted him here, it was only for her sake I-"

Soft footsteps interrupted him.

Neither one of them had heard the girls come back.

Neither one of them could bear to see Nell's expression either.

Mel jumped onto the roof and surveyed the scene before her.

Jo quickly followed. "The old man finally answered. We've got permission from him to use whatever we think is best," she said while cracking her knuckles.

"Yay!" Mel happily replied. "But I think we should let kitty figure out what to do first."

Jo rolled her eyes. "And if kitty messes up?"

"Meh," came the reply. "We'll jump in if necessary, but not a second sooner."

The two stared as Grimmjaw walked to the three unknown arrancars.

"If he screws up..." Jo murmured.

"He won't," Mel said with a hint of annoyance.

"I don't mean power wise," Jo continued. "All they have to do is rile him up a bit and then...well, you know how quickly he can lose it."

The pair continued their silent watch over Grimmjaw.

Said arrancar was taking his time stepping out of the shadows and into the moonlight.

"Oh ho,'s the man of the hour," said the one who seemed to be the leader, standing slightly above the others.

"What are you doing here?" Grimmjaw demanded.

"What?" drawled the second one with mock disappointment. "No, 'long time no see', or even a proper greeting?"

"He was never one to do that even back at home, Lluvia," said another who had remnants of a snake-like mask.

"Ah, that's right Culebra...but if this really was like the old days, we'd be fighting already." Lluvia's smirk grew slowly. "Lost your will to fight just cuz you've found some other pleasures?"

Before Grimmjaw could give an angry retort, the one with the snake like mask moved as if to attack. Taken aback, he took a defensive stance, but was greeted with raucous laughter. "The old you would have killed me in an instant," Culebra managed to choke out while laughing.

Grimmjaw snarled and jammed his hands into his pockets. "The hell do you guys want if you're not being serious about fighting?"

The group continued laughing and then finally quieted down. An eerie silence permeated around them.

The leader, who up till this point had yet to speak again, started first. With an odd glint in his eyes he smoothly asked, "Is she any good? Gettin' any details from Nnoitra is like tryin' to get Ulquiorra to crack a smile."

A feeling not unlike being thrown into freezing water enveloped Grimmjaw.

"Oh now, don't pretend like you don't know. It's been gettin' round Las Noches pretty quickly what those two were doin'."

It was obvious to Grimmjaw they were just trying to piss him off in any way possible. But it wasn't so easy to let it slide when it involved _her_.

Before he realized it the leader used _sonido_ to stand a bit too close for comfort next to Grimmjaw.

"_Ne_, want in on a little secret?" He rested his hand against Grimmjaw's shoulder and spoke in his ear. "We're thinkin' of having a little midnight snack, if tha's alright with you." He laughed and quickly stepped back to avoid Grimmjaw's fist.

The other arrancar exchanged glances.

"Why the hell aren't you fighting us?" Lluvia yelled as he shot out something that crackled ice blue and knocked Grimmjaw off his feet.

"Aww, is little Grimmy too busy thinking of his girlfriend to fight properly?" Culebra cackled, enjoying seeing Grimmjaw trying to get back up again.

"She's not my girlfriend!" Grimmjaw yelled before he could stop himself. He yelled it out of instinct, but a small part of him couldn't help feeling like he'd betrayed Nell or something.

This caused the trio only to laugh harder. Before he realized it, they had surrounded Grimmjaw.

"After we finish with you we'll pay a little visit to her. If you won't give, we'll just see for ourselves." The leader smiled again with the same gleam in his eyes. "Don't worry though, we won't hurt her...too much. We'll just have some fun."

No sooner had the words left his mouth then a sudden flash took everyone off their guard. Small flakes shining brightly slowly fell from the sky and scattered around the four arrancar.

"The hell is this-?"

But the arrancar didn't have time to finish his exclamation. A strong wind blew through and instantly the flakes transformed into a ring of fire that encircled the group. Grimmjaw suddenly understood. The flakes were embers that simply needed a bit of help to get started up. A voice above them spoke.

"Can we kill them _now_?" it drawled. Grimmjaw did a double take. Why was the voice of that penguin loving waitress above him?

"Sorry, but uh, could you guys, um, please leave?" another voice called out.

"Mel! Stop beating around the bush and just tell them to get lost or else!"

"Ok ok ok, sheesh, I was just giving them one last chance."

The arrancars weren't taking this exchange too happily. "And if we don't leave?" the leader snarled.

A strange giggle reverberated around them. "Then we get to have fun!" Mel smiled evilly.

"Hah!" Lluvia yelled. "Don't take us so lightly!"

"Good, same goes to you," Jo replied and without hesitation the circle turned into a ball of flames that consumed the arrancars. Grimmjaw was nearly knocked off his feet from the sheer force of the explosion and could only look on in amazement as the ball grew. Narrowly side stepping it, he looked on in awe.

Suddenly the flames were gone, and all that was left was the charred ground. A couple of lamp posts had also been completely melted.

"What the hell was that?" yelled a familiar voice.

Grimmjaw sighed and turned around to face Ichigo.

The others had also come out of the restaurant. And maybe he was imagining things, but it looked like Nell walked a little slower behind the others.

"Wow," was all most of them could manage out.

Grimmjaw turned around to where his opponents _used_ to be. All that was left were the charred remains of the fire. The arrancars had vanished, probably frightened by the spectacle or perhaps biding their time till they could come again; although he had to admit the girls' powers were amazing, it was highly doubtful they actually killed the intruders.

Still lost in his thoughts, Grimmjaw didn't notice the young teenage boy walk deliberately to him.

"Why were they here?"

The question hung in the air like dead weight.

Maybe it was because of the way the arrancars spoke of Nell, or maybe because Ichigo seemed a bit too hard to be implying something, Grimmjaw averted his eyes from Ichigo.

"Hell if I know," he finally responded.

The tense silence permeated the air, only broken by a strange jingling noise. Everyone turned to look up at the two waitresses still in midair.

"Tch, you're so rusty," the penguin loving one spat out. "Quit thinking about that funky smiling dude."

"Shut up!" was the only retort. The girls looked at their audience before responding to their surprised faces. "You're not the only ones protecting this city, so just hurry up and go back to Urahara's shop before it gets too late." Without bothering to see if anyone still had questions (which they did) the two girls vanished.

Needless to say, the night was ruined. Well, Ishida managed to summon the courage to properly ask Orihime out, but that's really neither here nor there...

Ichigo was beside himself, and both Orihime and Rukia knew better than to try and talk to him when he got into his moods. On one hand, these angry moods didn't last that long; frankly none of Ichigo's "emo" moments lasted that long because his friends eventually set him straight. On the other hand, this was a subject no one really knew how to deal with.

Rukia inwardly sighed, remembering the promises Ichigo made to Nell while still in Hueco Mundo. _He didn't know what it took to keep those promises her, tch, figures_.

Grimmjaw didn't have the guts to even look in Nell's direction and instead spent the entire time either staring at the pavement beneath him or looking at the store fronts they passed by.

Finally, some very awkward minutes later, they reached Urahara's shop. Ishida and Orihime said their good-bye's before heading over to their respective apartments.

"You need to come over soon so I can cook for you!" Orihime said happily to Nell as she gave her a bone crushing hug. After gaining her breath back Nell replied, "Sure! Um...are you ok, Ishida?"

Ishida had been making an "x" sign with his hands while vehemently shaking his head behind Orihime, trying to warn Nell of the inevitable doom if she were to sample Orihime's cooking, but to no avail. If Nell was a bit more alert, she would have also seen everyone flinch at the words "cook" when Orihime spoke.

The Quincy and the young girl headed off. Rukia couldn't help but giggle, and even Ichigo cracked the briefest of smiles as they watched Ishida slowly move closer to Orihime as the two walked away.

Back inside, the thin veil of illusion that made everything appear fine somehow held up. Ichigo managed to reply politely to all of Urahara's questions (even the insinuating ones that involved Rukia), while Grimmjaw tried his hardest to act like nothing out of the ordinary had happened. If he were back in Hueco Mundo, he could have gotten away from everyone by staying in his quarters, but now he had to be part of the game and try his hardest to converse.

Suddenly Urahara did a little half jump and cried, "Ah, Kurosaki-kun, I need to show you something!" and with that he dragged Ichigo out of the main room to somewhere down the hallway.

After their abrupt departure, Rukia turned Grimmjaw. She knew better than to ask what had really happened, but curiosity has a tendency to take control of people without their knowledge. She was about to speak when suddenly-

"You don't have to tell me why they came," a soft voice spoke. Rukia turned to look at Nell who was fiddling with the cuffs of her sleeves. "You-you don't have to say anything," she continued, unable to raise her head.

"Nell!" Rukia half shouted. Immediately she regretted it as Nell flinched and stopped talking at all. Rukia sighed and took a deep breath and tried to figure out a way to say, diplomatically, that Nell didn't have to act like a shy child anymore.

"It's just some shit," Grimmjaw responded, unable to come up a better answer. He looked at the two of them and continued, "trust me, it isn't even worth talking about."

"Yeah, that's gonna go over well with Ichigo," Rukia couldn't help but scoff.

Grimmjaw tched and rolled his eyes. Making his way toward the doorway, he hoped to avoid Ichigo before he got back from wherever Urahara had kidnapped him to. Unfortunately, he moved a bit too slow.

Standing in the doorway just as he reached it was a very pissed off orange haired teenager.

"The hell was that all about?"

The veil was now cracking.

Grimmjaw hesitated to say anything, and in that moment Ichigo's eyes flashed with anger. "Aren't you even gonna _try _and answer?"

No one dared to move. It was like the tension in the room was so strong no one _could _move.

"If you're not guilty, why the hell aren't you talking?" Ichigo was now shouting.

And there it shatters, falling oh so beautifully onto the floor.

"ANSWER ME YOU DAMN-"

Grimmjaw heard one of the girls scream as he rammed Ichigo against the wall. He couldn't tell which one, since everything seemed to be fading into the background.

"Mind your own fucking business!" he yelled back.

And then it all happened so fast. Grimmjaw yelling at Ichigo and vice versa, the door sliding open and Yoruichi coming out with Urahara close behind her, and someone running up to pull Grimmjaw away.

Why didn't he bother thinking? How could those few seconds have such lasting consequences? All he remembered was pushing somebody away. It was Rukia's gasp that brought him back.

The entire room was so silent not even a breath could be heard.

He thought it had been Rukia.

He thought wrong.

Without bothering to wait for anyone to move, Grimmjaw ran out of the room and slid the door open with a loud bang. Running as fast as he could and gulping down the crisp night air, Grimmjaw made his escape, never once looking back. He didn't want to face it. He wanted to erase everything so that maybe the glimpse he got of Nell's torn face wouldn't haunt him.

It was just too late.

If anyone had bothered to walk into the Urahara shop, they would have seen what looked like a normal night. People getting ready for bed, the only difference being that a young green haired woman needed help getting into hers.

The morning dawned like nothing had happened. Life has tendency to do that. No matter how important or how excruciatingly painful one's problem can be, the sun rises and life goes on with or without you.

Ichigo slowly awoke as the early morning rays woke him up. For a second he didn't remembe why he was in Urahara's shop, but his confusion didn't last long. Everything came flooding back and he wished he hadn't woken up.

A soft knock at the door broke him from these thoughts.

"I'm awake, you can come in," he said, trying not to growl while rubbing his head in a vain effort to make the previous night seem more understandable.

The door slid open to reveal Rukia. It was impossible to read her expression. After standing at the doorway for a good minute, Ichigo broke the silence.

"What do you want?" he snapped.

She hesitated for a brief moment, the gingerly walked in.

"There been a..." she trailed off, not knowing how to begin properly.

Ichigo's body froze. He yanked off the covers of his futon and quickly stood up. "Has anything happened to..." But he trailed off as well, not knowing how to ask the unthinkable.

Rukia sighed and closed her eyes. "She's fine, Ichigo. It's just that...she's changed back to her child form."

Ichigo couldn't believe what he was hearing. "But she's fine right? I mean, she's still healthy and all, right?" he pleadingly asked.

"Yes," Rukia said very slowly.

Without bothering to hear the rest, Ichigo ran past her and down the hallway.

Rukia's voice called after him. "Ichigo wait! She's not-"

He could hear her old voice even from outside the room. She was giggling and yelling at Pesshe for doing something. Ichigo heaved a sigh of relief and slid open the door.

An abrupt silence met him.

The little green cloaked girl looked at him for a few seconds and then pointed towards him while turning to Pesshe.

"Who's he?"

Outside the Urahara shop, life went on. Kids made their way to school, the office workers to their company, and the low hum of life went on. But for a young fifteen year old boy, life had come to a painful stop.

* * *

AAAH! ::FLINGS NOTEBOOK DOWN:: I FINALLY WROTE IT!

I'm sorry if the chapter ending doesn't sound right...this chapter was begun about a year and a half ago and was finished just about a few hours ago...yeaaah...

So! Thank you so VERY much to everyone who has reviewed and put this on story alert! ::huggles:: Thank you especially to the anonymous reviewer W.A. who reviewed this waaay back in September. I'll have you know I kept that review in my mailbox ever since to remind me to finish this damn chapter! And of course, thank you to all the people who actually bother to check if I'm still alive after two years!

Eeek, I've left it on a bit of a cliffhanger...my apologies. I sincerely hope by this summer's end I'll complete this story. Chapter title is from the aforementioned song by Traffic. It's a wickedly good song, and I'm sure you can find it on youtube. For that matter, I'm sure you can find all the songs that my chapters (and this story's name) come from!

Comments, questions, concerns? Feel free to push the happy little button located just at the bottom of your screen!

Aaaand, Omake time!

urarhara: Grimmjaw...i think you should have this...

grimjaw: WTF? I don't need a condom-

urahara: *waves fan* ah ah ah, we never know when the hormones might kick in! ::heart::

grimjaw: THAT'S NOT THE POINT!

ichigo: where did you get this?

grimjaw: a giant sperm shoved it at me and made me take it!

me: no…he's serious...I was there...

everyone else: O_O

me: Let's just say some interesting things go down at my school in Japan during lunch hour...

{}{}{}{}{}

Me: *watching Bleach* Ishida...of COURSE the sky is fake. You're in HUECO MUNDO. Don't you remember when you first got there? And don't tell Orihime she's safe just yet! You know that girl needs to be put in some secret vault. You should put one of those little kiddie backpack leashes on her.

Rachel: Yeah, and the backpack will be shaped like Rukia's chappy bunny.

Me: Woah...I was thinking the exact same thing.

{}{}{}{}{}

While chatting on AIM

Rachel: But I feel like Ishida should ride some little girls bike with a basket and Orihime can sit in it while he tries to pedal away as hueco mundo falls to shambles.

How they find so called bike, I dunno

-later-

No wait! I got it! Old man Yama makes Urahara give Rukia a bike with a bunny basket! And that's where they get the bike!

Me: oh my...

{}{}{}{}{}

Concerning emo kid's (Ulquiorra's name)

Dad: Oh yeah. Sounds like a mexican-aztec name don't you think

Me:yeah, I took one look at it and was like: uhhhh...MEXICAN ROOTS I SUMMON THEE TO PRONOUNCE THIS NAME CORRECTLY! It came out like tequila instead…


End file.
